Parallel Universe
by 221bhufflepuff
Summary: Remember this story - it's important. I knew them. But I never dreamed that they would know me, one day. My friends - they'll never know what happened. That is, except one. But I guess I should start from the beginning. The very beginning. When I was reading, and the characters started to appear.
1. I Win a Non-Existent Art Competition

**KELLY**

I love books.

I know it's crazy, but they're practically my life. Most of the people I hang around with like the same books as me, or eat them up as ravenously, as - well, a Dauntless with chocolate cake.

(See, that's how much I love them. Beware, because I'm going to be throwing references around faster than The Flash.)

When I read, it's like nothing else matters. It's clichéd, yes, but it's true (there goes another cliché). I can stop thinking about the stupid problems I have, how I don't fit in, why I don't seem to be good at anything, what homework I haven't done, and I can look into another totally different universe. I find myself fighting monsters alongside Percy Jackson, in Hogwarts with Hermione Granger, or chasing clues in a desperate clue hunt with Robert Langdon.

It's a time when I can forget my insecurities about my crush (does he like my best friend?), my faults (why can't I ever get it right?), and even simpler questions we struggle with every day.

Why can't I fit in?

Why am I so... Normal?

Why don't I have a spark?

That's why I read - writing drives me crazy, to be honest, because that's when the deep thinking comes in and I realize what a monster I really am.

That's why I read - yes, it's selfish, but sometimes it's nice to lose myself in the problems of others.

That's why I read - sometimes, I want to forget I even appeared on this planet.

...

"Hey! Zap!" A voice that's vaguely familiar calls out from behind me. I turn around, shoving a few people in the crowded hallway in the process, and come face to face with a beanie-clad, curly haired guy who's got paint on his shirt. "Kelly Anne Zapata, right? Congrats!"

I nod, slightly confused as to why this dude would apporach me. Kids who don't know me too well call me Zap, and my closer friends call me Key. Due to a Starbucks mishap a few years ago in which a spelling error cause some confusion and my current nickname - it's stuck for FOUR YEARS. FOUR YEARS, people! Get over it!

Anyway, the guy looks familiar - I think he's from my AP Calculus class. His name is... Jay? Jake? Uhh...

I'm still attempting to remember his name when he holds out his hand. "Jeremiah Whitaker." (well, at least I got the first letter right) "But you can call me Jerry. President of the art club, and in your Calculus class." I shake his hand gingerly, because he's got graphite smudges all over the side of his palm as well as more paint stains.

"Okay... So... What's this about?"

Jeremiah tilts his head. "You don't know? Oh. Okay. Well, your art piece won the art competition."

"Wait. What? Me?" Usually I would've come up with some retort of some kind, but not today. I didn't even know there was an art competition, much less enter it. What?

Jerry (Jeremiah? What? I'm really confused right now) must sense my confusion, because he slips out a folded photocopy of something out of a blue folder he's clutching under his arm, peers at a name written on the back, and gives it to me. "Unless there's another Kelly Anne Zapata in the school, then yeah, it's you."

I read the name on the back. Weirdly enough, it's mine. "Uh... Thanks? But I didn't enter the art competition..."

He shrugs. "Doesn't matter. Somebody submitted the drawing with your name on the form, so..." He trails off.

And it hits me. I know who submitted the drawing. "Oh, okay. Sorry, totally forgot that I submitted this. But thanks! How'd you know about this?" I asked him.

"President of the art club has its perks," Jeremiah claps his folder shut and shakes my hand again (wow, this guy is formal. Or just really keen to share whatever germs he has). "You should enlist. You're... You're a really good artist." He stares longingly at the piece of paper I'm holding in my hand, and I wonder what I drew that could possibly have won a school-wide art competition. I barely let my best friends see my sketchbooks, much less submit a drawing in a competition to have it criticized in front of the entire student body.

So I go off to find the person who I'm positive was the one who submitted my drawing.

...

Mrs. Robinson is a little like a bulldog. Squinty and slightly scary, but once you get to know her, she's got a soft side too. Just that the soft side doesn't really come up too much. She's okay if you blend in and do your work, which is what I happen to excel at. But if she gets mad, she can assign wicked long English essays that take months to finish.

"Hey, Mrs. Robinson," I wave as I walk into my English classroom, which she happens to teach. Recently we've been reading To Kill A Mockingbird, which is honestly a whole lot better than some of the stupid, dramatic, lovey books that people write nowadays.

Mrs. Pierce is always early for homeroom - there hasn't been a day in the year when I arrive earlier than her (or maybe it's just my aptitude for arriving just in time or late). "Hi, Kelly." Then she leans in and whispers. "Congratulations on the art competition. I had no idea you had so many talents!"

I blush. "Thanks, Mrs. Robinson." I'm not too good with the compliments, maybe because I'm not used to getting them.

She must be in a really good mood, today, then. The last time she ever complimented anyone was Lola Martin on her essay on Pride and Prejudice because it was so deep, it floored the whole class.

Until she found out that Lola had just copied and pasted out of Sparknotes.

(Well that was the mother of all Robinson meltdowns, if you ask me.)

But then she shakes her head at me. ""But don't be getting all cocky about it, Missy. I don't want anymore B's on your tests."

I sigh. Maybe not such a great mood after all.

Just then, Cara Price walks in. Her Native American skin positively glows in the morning sunlight, and her black hair is easily swept into a messy ponytail that looks effortless but that actually takes a lot of time to tie and style. She's wearing a light blue t-shirt and olive green cargo pants, plus ratty sneakers that are grosser than the bottom of our school desks, and that's saying something. I on't say she's extremely popular, but she's well-liked and makes friends wherever she goes.

She also happens to be my best friend.

"Sup, Key," she says and gives me a high-five. I slide into my chair, next to her, which usually gets us into a whole lot of trouble with Mrs. Robinson (e.g., we make more noise than Mandrakes sometimes). And Mrs. Robinson usually gives us a death glare so we shut up.

I look at Cara. And then I remember what I have on: A pair of Cory's old, black skinny jeans (my older brother, by the way), and a too-big, bright yellow Hufflepuff shirt. My hair's in a tangled braid down my back, the result of Katy's (youngest sister's) attempts to braid it this morning. So. Messy Hufflepuff kid, with big black spectacles from reading too much, and ratty Vans.

Let me reiterate that I'm not exactly Miss Popular in my school.

"Nice shirt, except Slytherin pride, forever," Cara smiles, and I laugh. Then I remember.

I whack her on the shoulder with my English paper on To Kill a Mockingbird. "You idiot! You have exposed my secret artwork to the world!" I wave the folded-up picture in her face. "What were you thinking?"

She smirks. "I was thinking that your picture was awesome, therefore I submitted it, like any good friend. I mean, you're hiding like a... Like a... what' the word?"

"Hermit. Recluse. Solitary. Loner. Ascetic. Eremite. Ancho - "

"OKAY! OKAY! Genius girl, whatever. Go do your SATS. But anyway it's finally the chance to show the world your brilliance!"

"I'm not brilliant," I mutter, and dump To Kill a Mockingbird on my desk. "I can barely speak if I'm talking to Oscar."

Immediately, I recognize that this is a mistake. "Mm-hm..." A wicked grin spreads across her face. Dammit. "OH-HO! CARKEY! SHIP! SHIP!"

I hear a bunch of snickers from behind me and I sink lower into my chair. Thank goodness there are at least five "Osacar's" in the school.

While I am calculating the probability of anybody figuring out exactly which Oscar it is, Cara whacks me on the arm. "Speak of the devil, and the devil himself will appear!" She starts biting her lip and fluttering her eyelashes at me excessively like she's trying to cause Hurricane Katrina with her eyelashes alone.

Oscar walks over.

He's wearing black jeans, straight cut, and a black shirt with a question mark on it. His hoodie is pulled up over his spiky brown hair and his glasses make him look serious - but that's not the case. He's crazy, weird and hilarious, and extremely smart, and Cara likes to pit us against each other occasionally in what she likes to call "tests of intelligence" but really is what she believes is matchmaking us. The last time was a poetry slam, I think. Didn't turn out to well. One of us ended a phrase with 'nut'.

Oscar flashes a quick smile at us - probably at Cara, anyway - and I smile but slide my eyes over to her. She's grinning madly, her smile lighting up the room, and she waves him over. "Oscar! Hey! Did you finish the essay?"

I hunker over To Kill a Mockingbird and my phone and stick an earbud into my ear, while Cara chatters to Oscar. He slides into the seat behind her, and I try not to act weirdly because I know Cara will use it against me later. Sherlock's theme greets me, and I smile - music is probably the second best way into another world. Every song has a particular feel, a different memory stuck to it, which surfaces whenever I hear the song.

Mrs. Robinson taps on her desk with her metal ruler. "Everyone, stand for the pledge." Everyone rises, says it, then sits back down. The announcements come on - which teacher's birthday it is, the lunch menu, blah blah, the date of the spring formal...'

Just as I am zoning out, I hear my name. "...Kelly Anne Zapata for winning the literary art competition! Second place goes to Samuel MacPherson, and third place to Lily Hakim! Congratulations, all of you! Please collect your prizes from Principal Breen's office on Monday, after school."

The whole class seems to know that I'm sitting here, and they all start whooping. Cara grins nezt to me, and Oscar leans over. "Great job, Zap. What'd you draw?"

I mutely unfold the piece of paper I'm still clutching in my hand. It's a crude photocopy of a pencil portrait I did a month or two ago of my best friend, Austin. He's a muscly football player, but he's also intensely funny and someone I've known since I was born. In the drawing, he's curled up at the end of a sofa, reading a book. I can't remember which one. The details in his face are shaded in, his clothes realistic, and if my picture is on display, it would be pretty easy for anyone to recognize him (he's a popular kid). It's detailed, but I don't think that's the thing that won me the competition. What is special about the drawing is that a light seems to be shining out from the pages of the books, lighting up his face from below, like he's looking into another bright, new world.

That's how I feel, every time I read a book.

...

When we are released for lnch break, I'm ambushed by what seems to be two armored tanks. Of course, it's just Cory and Autin being immature and over-excited, but I still hug them back.

"YOU WON THE ART COMPETITION, LITTLE SIS!" Cory beams and musses my hair. I attempt to flick his hand away but being crushed between a football player and a basketball one doesn't really let me do that.

"C-can't... Breathe..." I mutter, and Austin releases me, but Cor loops his arm over my shoulder.

"Told you!" Cara bounds out behind us, a ball of energy. "She keeps saying she's not talented but you're! A! Freaking! Genius!"

"I get it, Cara. Gimme a break," I roll my eyes, and find Oscar on the edge of our foursome. Since we were babies, Cory, Austin and I have spent all our time together, Cory and Austin sharing a baby cot, and both of them being my first visitors when I was born a year later. We grew up as neighbors together, and when Cara moved to the area, I was eight, and we made friends in school and became four. Oscar only transferred in two years ago, so he doesn't really hang out with us that much, but with other friends. Cara is the one who introduced us to him - she seems to know every single person in our school. Which is not a lie.

Austin slings his arm around me from my other side and squeezes me. "Come on, Key. You're a freaking genius at everything, especially art. Let's go see what the other kids drew."

Halfway down the hall, Cara bumps into some kids from the drama club, and she peels away from us and bends seamlessly inyo their loud group. I smirk at her from between Cor and Austin - though they don't have their arms around me anymore, Cory gives my hair an occasional ruffle, just to emphasize his height. I might be tall, but Cory's still taller.

We pass by a tight knot of girls, most in heels and short skirts or shorts. Some wear skin-tight jeans; all look the same. Popular kids, I think to myself, and from the center of the group, I see a familiar face. Cassie Cordan. Hottest girl in school, a year above me, and officially one my personal tormentor. Just a few weeks ago, she asked me to set her up with Cory, and I laughed in her face. She gave me a threat, but... So far, she hasn't carried it out. So no sweat.

A small crowd has gathered around the art display case, and I see a shock of curly, red hair in the crowd. Must be Angie - the electric guitarist in our band. She whirls around, a mini tornado, when I tap her shoulder, and grins broadly.

"ZAP! You won! I had no idea you could draw so well!" She bubbles, her curly red hair flying. "Seriously, you should join the art club - but don't quit band." Angie's so talkative, we joke that she makes our ears bleed more with her voice than with her electric guitar playing. But she's probably the best guitarist in our school, and I think it's because of her skills we won the last Battle of the Bands.

She pulls me into the crowd, leaving Cory and Austin behind. "Look at that beauty!"

I smile. "Thanks," and look up at my artwork. It's been carefully framed; the paper I used wasn't that great quality.

Lots of people are slapping Austin on the back and teasing him when I manage to edge out of the crowd. My guess is because he's in the picture, but he still gapes at it.

"Woah..." he murmurs. "That's really good..." Then he recovers. "Betcha it was my pretty face that won you the competition, Key." He winks, making me roll my eyes.

The other two pictures are really good too - one is a cartoon-style drawing of a fairy emerging from a whirlpool in a book's pages. I vaguely remember that drawing in Dork Diaries, but it's still quite artistic and I don't think Mr. Hedge (art teacher) reads those kinds of books. The one drawn by Samuel McPherson, who won second, is a realistic watercolor of Ender's Game. (I love that book, by the way!)

I push my way back out of the crowd, and suddenly hear a familiar voice that I am not at all comfortable with hearing.

"Great job, Kelly."

I wince. Great. This is gonna be so embarrassing, I'll die before I turn around.

Unfortunately, I am still alive when the time I do manage to turn around and plaster a smile onto my face. "Uh, hey, Kodan... Thanks?"

A little history might be relevant here.

Basically Kodan and I got to know each other after our moms met during a PTA meeting in seventh grade. And as usual what happened is that we thought liked each other, and after the feelings of euphoria and happiness passed, I realized that I didn't really like him. And that he was actually pretty annoying. What with all his incessant jokes and puns that weren't even funny (no, I am not going to make that pun).

Anyway when I told him I didn't actually like him after long deliberations with Cor, Oz and Cara, he basically replied that he didn't like me either an was just reciprocating. Which was a little upsetting because WAS HE RECIPROCATING WHEN HE SAID THAT HE LIKED ME?

Ahem.

Anyway.

He smiles awkwardly, that awkward smile which looks like a walrus crossed with the Joker. Not pretty. I glance behind him, where Cory and Austin are making stupid lovey faces and heart-shapes with their fingers and mouthing SHIP SHIP SHIP like the immature little poops they are.

I'm about to blurt something out that will make the situation even more awkward when Cara swoops in and rescues me. "Hi Kodan," she chirps brightly, flashing her signature Cara Pierce smile. "Gotta go for lunch. See you around!" She drags me off by the arm.

"You saved my life back there. I am eternally grateful to your awesomeness," I let out a breath.

Cara shakes her head and laughs. "You owe me. I could've helped Cory and Austin ship, you know..."

"Don't even think about it. How many times do I have to tell every freaking person I know that it's over?!"

"Until you die," she deadpans, and let's go of my arms to race to the lunch queue. Due to my state of extreme laziness and general unfit body, I get there last.

Austin is in front of me and he rolls his eyes as I stop behind him. "Ladies first. However, you have to go jogging with me tomorrow or you'll fail P.E."

"I'm not a lady," but step in front of him anyway. "And nope, I don't think P.E. is a necessity in life."

"It is when there's food and you're running for it," he smirks and zips up my backpack for me. "And close your backpack next time."

"Yes, mother," I mutter and check the lunch menu. Fried rice, steamed chicken, and stir-fry vegetables. Awesome. "Yes, Asian."

Cara, in front of me, fills up her tray with a teensy bit of rice and a lot of potato salad. "I have no idea how you can eat that stuff, much less like it."

"I have no idea how you can eat that bowl of mayonnaise, and like it," I retort, while piling stir-fry leafy vegetables and fried rice onto my plate. Austin, beside me, has taken more food than I think is humanly possible to finish in one meal, but then again, he isn't human. He's a football player.

(And I'm not going to object because I usually steal his food.)

I pay for my meal and turn around into Cory's chest. "Personal space? Ever heard of that?" I grumble, but he smirks at me.

"One word: Oscar."

"Why can nobody shut the hell up about my life!?" I mutter, but still peek around him. Oscar is chatting to Cara, smiling slightly awkwardly.

"You're staring," Cory teases, and Austin rolls his eyes next to me, grabbing my shoulder.

"Let's go find Clare and Becky. Did you see them?" He asks innocently, but I know he's covering for me.

Cara hops over, dragging Oscar along. "Yeah, they went to find Charlie. Let's go find them before they die from laughter again." I mouth a thank you to Austin, and he shakes his head. Yes, he teases me, but not as much as Cory. Usually he or Cara are the ones who come to the rescue.

Becky, Clare, and Charlie are sitting at our usuall table, laughing so hard, they can't be breathing properly. A bit about Charlie - I've known him from music classes together when we were two, and mostly when we meet we end up laughing a lot because we have too many really bad inside jokes. He's also seriously talented in music, and can do anything with a keyboard and computer software. He arranges pop songs for the school orchestra and band, and mashes fifty songs in really cool medleys for any special event (and he DJ's for school dances, which is super-cool because he puts in all these weird songs by P.A.I.N.T. and other people).

I slide onto the bench next to Charlie, and Cory, Cara, Austin and Oscar join us.

Cara wiggles her eyebrows as Oscar slides in next to me, but I roll my eyes, even though there are a billion butterflies carousing in my stomach. I quietly note that she is the one sitting opposite him, and dig in to my rice.

Words swirl around me - everyone talking, me watching, me standing on the edge. As usual. It's not that I'm not a part of them, it's just that sometimes, I can be apart.

A lot of the time, I find myself drifting. I can't talk to them, I don't feel with them. I feel my mind going blank, like I can't think about what they're saying to me, or it just doesn't feel relevant. Or I can't pay attention.

I see them - Charlie and Becky and Clare laughing, Austin and Cory watching a video on Cor's phone, Cara and Oscar sharing a pair of earphones.

I think about Cara and Oscar, and how I do like him, but he seems to like someone else more. Namely, Cara. I think about how everyone seems to prefer Cara to me.

I think about everyone, and I don't see where I fit in.

So, when I get up to leave, it isn't very strange that nobody notices.

...

Stepping into the library is almost surprising everytime I do it. Somehow, the smell of books and the pure silence is calming, the atmosphere of carpets and softness, the feeling of being completely comfortable no matter who you are is the best in the world.

I don't notice that the librarian is new until she smiles at me.

The first thing I notice is that she is reading a thick book - thicker even than the thickest Harry Potter. She has caramel hair, tied in a braid down her left shoulder, and the lightest eyes I have ever seen on anybody - they're piercing yet peaceful. Like the sea, just before a tsunami. She's... Nineteen? Twenty-something? I can't tell - her face is ageless, unreadable. She has a white, collared shirt on, rolled up skinny jeans, and strappy sandals. Like she just walked out of the Carribbean.

I snap out of my reverie when she coughs lightly. "Hello?"

"Oh. Uh, sorry," I mumble, and look away. "You just reminded me of somebody."

She laughs lightly. "It is fine. Do you need any help?"

"Should be okay. I'll just read over there. Thanks." My usual seat is empty - a squishy, red chair right in front of the librarian's desk because then nobody harrasses me there. I sink down and sigh, and pull out Paper Towns (fifth time reading it) from my bag. I'm just about to continue reading it when soeone plunks their butt down opposite me. Without looking up, I know it's Cory, partly because I recognize the sound of his footsteps, partly because nobody else would dare disturb me in this holy place.

"What."

He pulls my book away. "And you're expecting me not to notice that you just up and walked off during lunch!?"

I don't have a reply for that.

He raises an eyebrow. "I know you left because of Cara and Oscar."

I look at him over my spectacles. "...and?"

"And you're feeling left out," he rolls his eyes. "Why don't you, for once, try to pay attention?"

"Oh har-har. That's rich. So it's now my fault that Oscar doesn't like me? I never said I wanted him to, did I?"

Cory pushes up his glasses and leans forward. "Okay, look. For once in your life can you stop being so damn stubborn and listen to me? Comparing yourself to Cara isn't going to make Oscar like you, and neither is it going to make you 'fit in' more. You're perfectly fine being yourself."

I stare at him. "The hell is wrong with you? You're acting mature."

"Yeah, that's because I'm far more mature than you'll ever be," he smirks.

I glare at him. "Fat chance. I thought I was getting this 'nice older brother' vibe, but then you ruined it."

"Oh, come on, I'm always nice," he stands up and messes up my hair. "Now are you going to come back to lunch or are you going to stay here and be a loner?"

"Correction: I am improving my mind," I tell him. "Cassie Cordan is singlehandedly lowering the IQ of the entire canteen by simply sitting there."

"That's scientifically impossible, but fine, up to you," he shrugs and walks off.

I roll my eyes and go back to my book. Cory has good intentions, but around me, he just jokes around too much.

"So... That was your brother?" When I turn around, the librarian is sitting quietly at her desk, looking expecantly at me.

"How'd you guess?"

She shrugs. "He annoys you, yet you put up with him."

I snort. "That's true." There's something about the way that she talks that seems a bit off, like she's not from here. Maybe it's the certain way she forms her words, or the pauses a tiny bit at different intervals. "So. Why'd you take the job?"

She smiles. "I needed to catch up on a few things. Books are the best way to do it." She goes back to reading her book - now, I realise, it's an encyclopedia. Reading is an obsession to me, but an encyclopedia?! And what would she need to catch up on?

Just then, the bell rings. I nod. "Well... Have fun with that," I tell her. And when I leave, I can't shake the feeling that I've met her before. In another life, in another world, but... How?


	2. Strangers On Stranger Tides

**LEO**

"This place stinks."

"Well, stop smelling yourself, then," Calypso mutters dryly from behind my back. She has her arms around my waist, hugging me loosely, and boy, let me just say that I'm slowing Festus down a lot if that means I get to be near her. "Are we there?"

"Yeah. Festus's navigator says we're just offshore Manhattan now - basically, the Athens of today, where Mount Olympus is. We should be getting to camp soon," I reply.

For the rest of the ride, we're silent, which is unusual - the whole way here, through the tornados, storms, out of the Bermuda triangle, it's been hard for us to stop talking. Calypso wants to catch up with life here, and me, I'm all too happy to tell her. But now. I can't stop thinking about finally getting home, and dozens of questions keep running through my head. Will they still remember me? How much time has passed?

That one makes me laugh a little - what if Jason and Piper are old and crusty with a billion grandkids? And if Frank is wearing an old-man diaper, boy, is he going to get it bad from me. Frank in a diaper.

But what if they're gone?

That sobers me up.

Festus creaks, and I look down. We've emerged from the clouds, and Long Island is directly below us. We soar over the land, and I squint through the wind to see camp - the strawberry fields, the cabins, the amphitheatre.

It's not there.

I see the creek, Long Island Sound, I see the exact place where I first landed on Festus, scaring the living daylights out of everyone at camp. All the natural landmarks are there... But nothing else. Not even a rotting ruin to suggest that a bustling camp had been here once.

Something drops in my stomach.

"Great," I mutter, and quickly tell Festus to land us on the beach, where the docks used to be. There's a small stand there, a fishing shack, and Festus waits outside while Calypso and I stroll inside.

A teenage guy is standing behind the counter, arranging fishing rods. He does a double take when he sees me, like he can't believe that Calypso is with me (I should probably get used to that). Right now I look like I just walked out of a hurricane, which is technically true, but I won't mention that.

"Hi," I lean over the counter, and the guy raises a suspicious eyebrow. "I was wondering if you could tell us the day?"

He looks at me strangely. "Wednesday," and goes back to polishing the handle of a fishing rod.

"Ah, uhmm... I meant the date," I force a laugh.

An even stranger look now. "February the fourth."

"Heh. The year?"

Now he looks really creeped out. "Dude, is this a joke? Because this is just weird."

I sigh. "Can you just tell met the year already? Man, you're taking a longer time than a sloth with constipation!"

"Okaaay..." He mutters and backs away. "It's twenty-fifteen."

A bunch of swear words come to mind, but I don't let loose. "Th-thanks, man. Uh... Gotta go," I drag Calypso out with me. "I left camp five years ago. Do you see anything different about me!? I can't believe it. I missed out my golden years! I'm twenty. Gods, do I look like I'm fifteen or twen - "

She smiles sadly. "Five years - time doesn't mean anything to me anymore. And you look the same as when I first met you."

Immediately, I soften. "Hey. I'm sorry. It's just..." I sigh and give her a boost up onto Festus. "I hope they're still here. We should probably check out Camp Jupiter. Maybe they've merged."

As I climb onto Festus, I am unconvinced. But hopeful.

Boy, do I hope.


	3. Unintentional Invisibility

**KELLY**

"P.E. sucked like an industrial vacuum cleaner," I groan in the car to Austin and Cory. "Coach made me do fifty star jumps in front of the entire class because I finished the five laps last. It's pure discrimination."

"Your fault for not taking up my offer to jog last night," Cory mutters, not taking his eyes off his phone. phone. "And how is trying to make you more fit discrimination?"

"He's picking on me because I'm slower than the rest. Discrimination against the weakest in the lot," I explain, somewhat impatiently. If there's one thing that I really can't do in life, it's exercise.

Austin tries to reason with me. "He's trying to help you get fitter in case somebody attacks you and you have to run away, and what if the last hotdog on earth is one lap away and you have to run to it?"

I snort. "Grab it while everyone else is fighting, then. And pepper spray was invented for a reason."

"The perp has goggles."

"I'll spray it up his mouth or nostrils."

Cory shakes his head. "You know you're not going to win this, Oz."

Austin shrugs. "It's entertaining." He jumps out of the car after my mom pulls to a stop. I drag myself out of the car, only to flop onto the grass in the yard, every muscle in my body aching. Austin joins me, and Cory walks into the house, yelling a hi to Katy, and then getting even more food from the fridge.

Clare gets out of the car and leans over me. "It's your turn to take me to piano today."

She has three classes a week - two for actual playing, and one for theory. She's crazy about piano and wants to be a teacher when she's older, therefore the three classes and four-hour practices every day. Cory, my mom and I take turns bringing her to class, and unfortunately, today is my turn.

"Get Cory to take you," I moan. "I had to run five laps today and do fifty star jumps."

She doesn't look impressed. "And I had to listen to you complaining about it in the car for fifteen minutes. I feel your pain." She walks back into the house to get changed, and I sit up slowly. It takes five minutes if I skateboard to her teacher's house, ten if we walk, but I can't very well drag her along by a rope while I'm skating. So the old-fashioned way will have to do. Walking.

Austin's still lying down. "Well. Can I go with you, then? Just in case somebody attacks you, and you can't run."

"Pepper spray," I shoot back, but the company would be nice. I rarely get to talk to Austin alone, because he, Cor and I are always hanging out together. "But okay."

He taps my leg from where he's lying. "Yup?"

"I just want to say that the picture was really good. And it's not because I was in it," he smiles sincerely, and I roll my eyes. "And I'm glad Cara submitted it, otherwise I'd never have seen it."

"Thanks, Austin," I don't really know what to say to this, because compliments aren't really that easy for me to handle.

Clare walks back out of the house, hair combed and in some clean clothes. She likes to be neat for her classes. We stand up, and I brush grass off myself. Austin does the same - just that he doesn't care about brushing off. "You have a clover in your hair." I tell him. It's sticking up right out of the top of his bristly brown hair.

He just strikes a model pose. "It's contributing to my fabulousness."

He follows me as I speed-walk to keep up with Clare, and I can tell he's listening in on the conversation when I ask her, "So, how was school?"

"Fine," she replies, not looking at me, so I know it wasn't fine.

"Yeah, sure. What?" I keep it short because I don't want to waste precious breath on talking when I'm running out of oxygen. And yes, even speed-walking is an effort for me.

She purses her lips. "Ca - " and stops. "Never mind."

I'm surprised. "Cara? What happened?"

She doesn't reply, so I stop her. "Look, if anything happened to Cara, you have to tell me. She's my best friend, Clare."

"I don't have to tell you anything," she mutters moodily, and flounces into her piano teacher's house. I turn around and face Austin, who shrugs and looks at her retreating form. "You know anything?"

"Nope."

I sigh. The dynamics of our group can be weird sometimes - because I've known Cory and Austin my whole life, and because we're neighbors, the three of us tend to hang out more together than with Cara outside of school. Me, Clare, Becky and Cara are pretty close as well, but when I'm with Austin and Cory, Clare usually texts or IM's Cara so both of them actually talk a lot. Maybe more than I do with Cara. Our group of four - Cory, Austin, Cara and me are pretty close but sometimes it's hard for me to talk to Cara because the guys can be awkward.

Cara's life is perfect. She's got a great family, good relationship with her parents, pretty good grades, and she's able to stand out among everyone. She has this spark.

It's like nothing can touch her perfect image.

And if Clare's worried about her, understandably, I'll be worried too.

I realize Austin is tapping my shoulder. "Yup?" I say vaguely, still thinking about what's up with Cara.

"Can I tell you something?"

"Sure..." I reply, still not paying much attention to what he's saying. I mean, it registers, but the more weighty issue (Cara) pulls on my mind first.

He sits down on the curb. "I kinda like someone. I think."

Immediately, I snap into focus. "WHOO!? I ship, I ship, I ship I ship I - "

He gives me the look.

" - will shut up," I trail off and sit down next to him.

He balks. "Well."

I stare at him with wide eyes. "Friggin - Key, don't look at me like that. It's creepy as hell. And you're freaking me out."

"Sorry. Just kinda... Excited! Why? And how? And - sorry." Oz had a girlfriend two years back, but then they broke up after a while and he was a total wreck. It took at least a month of Cory, Cara and me trying to cheer him up before he got back to normal. If he's saying this now, it means he's definitely better.

Oz snorts. "Okay. Okay. Uh... I like her because she's really nice and funny and pretty close to me, and... She has this... Spark?" He rubs his face and looks down at the road. "Yeah."

"Wait. It's Cara?"

Austin looks caught in the headlights. "Uh... What? H-how did you know?"

I shudder. "This is disgusting. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Don't you go all lovey and gross whenever she's around. Eck - I can just imagine you making that puppy-love face and staring at her back with your huge eyes - "

"Oh, shut up," he burns red. "I don't do that, for goodness' sakes. Nobody does that."

"Seriously. Have you ever seen your own face? Your eyes are the size of saucers," I tell him. "And don't change the subject. WHAT THE HELL!? WHEN DID YOU START LIKING HER!? And by the way, we should probably be walking home right now."

"How do you do that thing? Focusing on two things at once?" He stands up and extends his hand, and he pulls me up to standing position.

"Don't. Change. The. Subject," I tell him, "But thank you. Answer the question?"

He ruffles his hair. "Well. I guess... It's not so much of a BOOM I like her kind of thing but... You know. I really want to spend more time with her and we're all usually together so... I don't know."

"So... You like her and you want to spend more time with her? Are you going to tell her?"

Austin kicks a pebble across the sidewalk, and I help to keep it going as far as we can. "Well... Maybe not. I mean, I don't want to ruin our friendship - with Cory or... Or you, either - and... Even though I hope something happens, I think she's not interested."

We arrive at my house. "Well. Make her interested. And I think you're okay enough friends to... Not destroy the friendship if that happens? I mean, it might be potentially awkward, but I think you'll still be friends," I smile at him, and pluck the clover out of his hair, twirling it between my fingers. It's easier than looking him in the eye.

"So. You think I should tell her?"

"I don't know. I can find out for you if she likes anybody else first if you want?"

He takes the clover from me as we walk up my driveway. "Uh. Maybe? Would be good? And on the subject, do you still like Oscar?"

"Okay, is this a pilgrimage to tease me or do you seriously want to know?" I raise an eyebrow.

He sighs. "No, it's not a quest; yes, I do want to know."

"Fine. Yes, I still do. Although I don't want anything to happen, because it might make things weird. And I'm awkward," I mutter as we pass the living room where Katy is watching Sofia the First.

"Sup, Katy," Austin calls, and she waves back. Austin's been good with kids forever, whereas I'm not exactly Miss Popular with them (understatement of the century). "Well - "

"EEYYYYY!" Cory yells and comes crashing down the stairs. "I thought I heard my fans coming home. Let's go get some ice cream - mom brought back chocolate chip cookie dough."

I get my ice cream and leave Austin and Cory discussing chemistry homework. Upstairs, it's cooler, and I plod up to my room and flop onto the bed. The Blood of Olympus is lying on my bed, and I set my ice cream down and open it to a random page. I start reading - it's when Leo and Calypso first meet.

And it hits me.

I know where I have seen the librarian before - or rather, imagined. She's exactly what Calypso would look like - not in my imagination, but in the astounding way that fits the character exactly. Caramel hair, almond eyes, and an ageless smile. And she wears white and jeans...

I shake the thought from my head. It's the most impossible thing I've ever thought of in my life. A fictional character popping up in my world? It's only something I've ever dreamed of. It's completely unbelievable. Wacky. Ka-razy, as Katy would say.

But I need something to hope on.

My whole life, I spent wishing, first, that I would be rescued by a prince from fairytales (okay, yes, very corny). Then I wanted to meet magical, talking animals that I read about, then wanted desperately to be solving mysteries with the Famous Five or Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, making up scenarios in my head in which I was part of their stories. Then I started wishing, so hard, to meet the impossible: Katniss Everdeen. Beatrice Prior. Hazel Grace Lancaster. Hermione Granger. Percy Jackson. My soul was longing just for a glimpse of life full of adventure and love and happy endings and belonging, being somebody for a change. Something different, vibrant, and maybe even dangerous.

It's impossible. But I still hope.

Every night, I lie in my bed, imagining the worlds. What would happen if I could be there in their world, if I could share in their adventures, emotions, dangers... For real. I experienced it, sure, through the books, but I wanted to be there, doing the real thing.

Why? Maybe because I grew up around books. Maybe because I've never really felt part of something, even with Cory and Cara and Austin around me. Maybe because of my over-active imagination. May be I needed something to believe in, somebody to root for. Somebody I could become.

Honestly, I would give up my life to meet them.

So when life gives me a chance, however slim, to hope that the boundaries between my fantasies and the real world have broken, I grab it. I grab it, yank it, snatch the chance before I'm left with nothing.

Am I crazy?

A little.

But since when did anyone sane do anything great?

...

When I reluctantly push myself downstairs for dinner (after a lot of imagining and fantasizing about fictional characters), I'm not surprised to find Austin's family, Thomases, making themselves at home. They come over at least twice a week (and we go over more than twice as well) to eat, and if Austin's parents aren't home or free, they just come over for dinner without having to tell us.

"Hey, Kelly!" Mrs. Thomas calls when she catches sight of me. "Congratulations on winning the art competition."

"Thanks, Mrs. Thomas. Hi Mr. Thomas."

A bit of an introduction to the Thomases - they have three kids, Andrew, Austin and Abigail, who are eighteen, sixteen, and nine respectively. They knew my mom and dad since college, and somehow managed to move in next to them when they wanted to start a family. All three kids are in our house now - Andy's sprawled out on the couch, on his phone, and the rest including Katy, Cory and Clare are playing with a Frisbee outside.

"Hey, Key," Andrew looks up when I walk past the couch. "Great job on the art competition. I heard you drew Austin?"

"I didn't even submit the drawing," I rolled my eyes. "Cara did. But thanks." He holds up his hand for a high-five.

Abigail yells for me, so I walk out to the patio. "Yup? Abby?" I call and sit down on the edge of the patio, putting my bare feet onto the grass.

"AUSTIN LIKES A GIRLLLLL - " she yells at top volume, like it's the funniest thing ever, before Austin slaps a hand over her mouth, blushing fiercely. Cory and Clare's eyes widen like saucers. My brother tackles Austin and pushes him to the side of the garden, where I can tell a full interrogation is going on.

"Who? Why? When? Spill!" Cory's saying when I walk over.

Austin shoots me a "help" look, but I shrug. "You tell him yourself."

A stand-off ensues, so I roll my eyes and walk away. If Austin wants to tell him, he'll tell him in all due time.

"Mom? Need any help?" I call into the kitchen, where all the adults are. It smells of chicken, herbs, and Mrs. Thomas's home-made pizza, which is my absolute favourite. They're all laughing at something while my dad stirs soup in a pot.

My mom looks up. "Could you set the table ? The Pierces are coming too. Adults are over at the table, you guys can eat in the garden."

"Sweet!" Cara's coming, so I can see how Austin acts around her. And I need to talk to her about whatever's bothering her.

I grab the stack of plates from the countertop and carry it out, eight glass plates on the table, and plastic ones on the patio tables outside. Forks, knives, and spoons for the adults, and I manage to find the plastic ones in the kitchen drawer.

Just as I set down the last glass of water for the adults, a voice floats in from the garden, a little angry and frustrated at the same time. "How long have you liked her for?" It's Cory - nd I haven't heard this tone in a long time.

"Um... Since fifth grade..."

Holy cow. SINCE FIFTH GRADE!? How about his girlfriend? And the other girls that he'd liked?

But I decide I shouldn't be eavesdropping, and I don't want to hear my best friends arguing.

"Kelly!" My mom calls from the kitchen again. "Could you get one of the guys to carry the drinks cooler out?"

"Sure," I call back and walk through the door, and grab the handle of the cart. I don't want to interrupt the guys and I think I could probably do it myself, so I pull it outside. I'm quite used to doing heavy lifting or fixing stuff around the house with my dad, because Cory has basketball and soccer practice a lot, and never really had the aptitude or patience for doing these things.

The doorbell rings, and I yell for Cory to get it while dragging the drinks cooler out. I run to the door when I'm done and say hi to Mrs. and Mr. Pierce. Mrs. Pierce hugs me enthusiastically. "Kelly! Congratulations on winning the art competition!"

"Thanks, Mrs. Pierce," I say, as Mr. Pierce slaps me on the back. Sean (Cara's younger brother) launches himself at Austin, who's also come to the door. Cara grins and follows me to the back, saying hi to my parents and the Thomases, then heads to the back, immediate slipping into conversation with Abby and Clare.

I sit back down on the patio and grab a root beer from the cooler, and Austin comes to sit down next to me, while Cory runs back into the garden. "Get off your butt and come and exercise."

"You're the one who's resting now," I argue pathetically back.

He gives me a look. "I have been playing frisbee for the past half an hour. You have been upstairs reading."

"I have not."

He raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine. Fine. But I carried out the drinks cooler, and I set out the table."

"Not counted exercise," he states, but I all I can do is give him a withering look.

"Sorry. But I'm not budging."

From the glint in his eyes, I can tell he's about to pick me up and carry me kicking and screaming to exercise in the garden, but my mom calls from the kitchen, "Dinner!" And at the magic word, everyone is pulled into the dining room.

A feast has been laid out - roast chicken with peaches and herbs, a secret family recipe. Mrs. Thomas's homemade pizza. Seafood chowder. Caesar salad, made by Mrs. Pierce.

I realize it's all my favourite food.

"Waittaminute!" I hold up my hand. "Not to be rude by what's the special occasion?"

Sean crows with laughter, ad I must look puzzled, because Cory smirks from the other side of the table. "It's to celebrate you winning the art competition, doofus."

Mom gives him a disapproving look. "Don't call your sister a doofus."

Cory grins cheekily at me. "So-ree." Although he's probably going to call me something worse later on, knowing that I'm not going to do anything about it.

"Cool... Thanks, mom and dad for planning this! Thanks, everyone!" I'ma little shocked that tey would do something like this, all for me.

Dad smiles. "It was actually Cory and Austin's idea. Thank them. And Cory, don't tease your sister."

Cory smirks at me, but I ignore. "Thanks, guys."

Mr. Pierce raises his water glass dramatically. "A toast! To our children, and the friendship they share!"

...

After dinner, all the kids gather in the living room to watch Tangled. I'm squished between Cory and Austin, because there was a mad rush to the living room and all the older kids ended up on the couch with Andy lying on top of us.

I'm not really paying attention to what's going on on the screen because I'm reading The Blood of Olympus, so when Cory nudges me, I look up blearily. "Yup?"

"I bet you wish that you and Oscar were doing that," he smirks. On the screen, Rapunzel and Flynn are holding hands in a gondola, singing to each other.

"Stop it, Cory." A quick glance towards the the dining room area shows that the adults didn't see anything. "And for the last time, I really don't want anything to happen between me and Oscar."

"I'm gonna have the last laugh," Cory smirks.

An older brother can be a total pain, but he's something I couldn't have grown up without.

I continue reading The Blood of Olympus, and lean my head onto Austin's shoulder while reading. Cory glances over, makes a face, and then grabs my book and runs off, cackling. I grumble and get off the couch to catch him in the garden.

"What the heck is your problem?" I pant, when I catch up in the corner of the garden. Cory checks to make sure nobody followed me, and then tosses the book back. "Respect. The. Book." I warn, checking to make sure he didn't rip it.

"Look. I don't want you getting too close to guys, okay?" He looks upset and a little concerned. "Especially physically."

"I've known Austin since before I was born!" I exclaim. "He's like a brother to me! Besides, I don't even like him in that way."

Cory snorts. "You don't know what ideas guys can get into their heads."

I'm disgusted. "Gross! Cory! I'm never going to look at you in the same way! Urgh, they should make a law against older brothers revealing secrets about their grossness to their sisters."

"And they should prohibit younger sisters running through the huse naked when they're in pre-school," Cory complains and flicks me on the ear. "We're even."

I follow him back inside, but instead of sitting back down at the sofa, I plonk own behind it to read my book. If Cory's going to be irritating and irrational, I'm not going to listen to him, much less squeeze in for a movie with him.

Suddenly, Cara sits down beside me. "What was that about?"

I snort. "Cory being Cory. Annoying. Basically he didn't want me to get too close to Austin. Ridiculous, considering we have a framed picture of three of us bathing together when we were three-ish," I point to the picture and Cara laughs.

"He's just being protective. Give him a break," she pokes me, and steals my book. What is it with these people!? Just leave me and my book alone! She starts on a long rant on how if Leo and Calypso make it back, it'll be awkward between Calypso and Percy, and I zone out, thinking about the librarian. Imagining that she's actually Calypso, and what would happen if she actually was.

Cara waves her hand in front of my face. "Yo."

"Oh. Sorry - spaced out for a moment there. Uh... By the way, are you okay? Clare said something..."

"I'm fine," she says, too quickly, and I know something's up. "It's nothing. Just..." she trails off. "What was that you told me about Oscar?"

I can sense she doesn't want to talk about it, and I don't mention it. Although I feel a little hurt. We've always told each other everything, but lately she's been getting distant and not really opening up as much as before. More with Clare than me. A bitter feeling rises up my throat. "He... Apparently he likes this other girl called Diane. Who's in the dance club."

Cara puts her arm around me. "Hey. You're probably going to get over him, and you already said that you don't want anything to happen between you guys. But that still sucks. How'd you find out?"

"I was in the bathroom, and there were two girls talking outside," I feel a little put off that she's taking it so lightly, because... Even if I say that I don't want anything to happen between us, a tiny part of me really wants that to happen. Although I know it's not exactly the best idea ever.

Cara pats me on the shoulder. "He's stupid not to like you." She smiles gently, and I'm reminded for a moment of Piper McLean.

Clare sits down beside Cara, and I take it as a cue to go, so I get up and start toward the staircase.

When I glance back, I see a family: all those kids together, a part of something, something... Something I can only feel apart from. Nobody even notices me slipping away... Like a shadow.

Not even my best friends.


	4. The Blind Boy and the Book

**HAZEL**

After Gus died, I stopped reading _An Imperial Affliction._

I don't know why - grief? Closure? Pain?

Maybe I was just thinking about the way he was cut off, like Anna, in the book. The way our story never truly got to finish.

Isaac says that 'always' is a pretty short time.

And I reply, _Okay._

We all miss him - like there's a weight in our stomachs, but life goes on. It's not like the heavens opened and the rain pours down whenever I see an orange tulip. I still have cancer, Isaac is still blind, we still have to put up with our messed up lives and crappy hospital food. I still breathe through a tube, and no, I do not take rainbows as signs from above, because it's fractured light.

Nothing else.

But I'm thankful that I met him, for all these reasons that I cannot put into words.

Lately, Isaac and I have been hanging out a lot. We meet at the park between our places: Isaac gets dropped off by his mom, and I walk there, lugging Phillip with me. We sit and watch the world pass by (well, not literally, in Isaac's case) and sometimes, we talk. Sometimes I read to him. Sometimes we just sit there, noticing.

"Hazel?" He asks from next to me, and I turn slightly. He's facing straight ahead, something which took a while to get used to, because usually people face you when they speak to you. Blind people don't, because what's the point? "I found this book when me and my mom were clearing out some of my stuff. Could you read it to me?" He holds out a small bound book - leather, old fashioned.

It is heavy in my hands, warm from being in his pocket. I run my fingers over the cover of the book, on which is embossed a picture of somebody reading. A boy, a few years younger than me, curled up on a sofa. I gently open the book, expecting the pages to be old an yellowed, but on the contrary, they're white and new, crisp to the touch. "Chapter One," I read. "In which I Win a Non-Existent Art Competition."

"I love books..." And we're lost in a world of Kelly Anne Zapata, who is fifteen and is strangely... Lost. She doesn't fit in, has insecurities, loves books. I don't know why, but I'm strangely drawn to her, like I know her, somehow.

The second chapter confuses me - it's written from a different point of view, a character called Leo who's riding on a... Festus? Isaac looks a little confused too, but then we continue reading, and the third chapter continues from Kelly's voice. And I find myself feeling the _exact same way,_ an obsession with a book, characters coming alive... But I stop short when I turn the page. Chapter four.

"After Gus died, I stopped reading _An Imperial Affliction._ "

Isaac looks confused. "You did?"

But I don't reply - I read on, silently, and I read about _me._ What's been going on in my life, and then I get to the part where the things I'm doing is what I'm reading and -

I slam the book shut.

"Isaac," I breathe, I can't think. "May I... May I bring this home to read? I've gotta go."

He snorts. "Sure. It's not like it's any use to me, anyway. I'll see you on Friday?"

I walk him to his house, which is a fifteen minute walk from the park, clutching the book tightly in my hands. A book with the future in it is not something you would let of of easily.

"Isaac," I stop him before he goes into his house. "You sure you don't know where this ook is from?"

He shrugs. "I'll ask my mom. But why is it so important?"

If only he knew.


	5. The Hidden Prophecy

**KELLY**

The first thing I do when I get to school is run like hell for the library.

Call it insanity, or extreme fangirly-ness, but I just want to test out my theory that's she might be Calypso. Just in case.

I know it's crazy. But hoping is all I've done my whole life, so I don't think I'll stop now.

(Besides. My mom says I should get out of my comfort zone and talk to people who aren't on the internet or imaginary. To which I replied that yes, I do talk to Cory, Cara and Austin, but she said that they're not counted because I've known them for forever. To which I replied that I talk to people in school, to which she replied that she hears me talking in my room to people who aren't there. Which is true.)

I burst into the library, the first sprint in a while I've enjoyed. "Uh. This is awkward, but what's your name?"

She laughs, and it's timeless, and I want to stay in that moment. Because who knows? The now is full of endless possibilities, all tied together, like balloons, and you can only pick one, the rest floating away. Hope is boundless, and the feeling I have now is pure hope. That our librarian in our school just so happens to be a fictional character.

Impossible, but I hope.

"My name is Kelly. And you?" She smiles.

It almost feels worse than when I found out Oscar likes someone else. That balloon I hold? It's the wrong one. It's deflated and wrinkly. "Uh... Oh. Um... My name's Kelly too. Which is a coincidence. But some people call me Key. Like," I make an unlocking-the-door motion. "Door key, kinda thing." The bells trills and I check my watch. I am late, again. "Ugh. Gotta go, or Mrs. Robinson will _kill_ ," I mutter and wave, and dash out the door before I can continue hoping.

What's the point of holding on to the balloon if it deflates?

...

I manage to crash into class just as Mrs. Robinson is calling out my name for attendace (perks of haveing a last name starting with a 'Z'). "Here!" I yell, out of breath, as if nobody has noticed a messy teenager knocking over the trashcan and nearly trampling the three kids closest to the door. "Sorry. Got tied up at the library."

There's some snickering from the back of the class, which is probably from Doug Velasquez and his cronies.

As a sidenote, Doug Velasquez was probably dug out of the snow in the Alps because he came from the ice age. In fact, he was probably living before that, considering his IQ and tendancies to take sticks and hit things and grunt. (Okay, he plays baseball. But whatever.)

I slide into my seat and try to catch my breath, and look over at Cara. She's got an expression that says, _Where have you been?_

 _Library,_ I mouth back, and then pull my textbooks out of my bag. a small slip of paper tumbles out of _To Kill a Mockingbird_ when I open it. It's folded into itself, corners tucked in, a signature style that Austin taught me how to fold.

K,

Apple tree before lunch?

-A

Hm. Usually he'd just come to the classroom to pick me and Cara up -

Oh. Right. He doesn't want Cara to know.

Jealousy, however reluctant I am to let it, bubbles up in the pit of my stomach, but I squish it down, because they are both my friends. Austin is my friend, almost a brother, and that is all I could ever want.

So I focus on the notes on the blackboard and try not to think about it.

After class, Cara grabs me by the wrist and drags me over to the empty stairwell just outside our classroom. "Tell him," she commands, brushing hair out of her face. "Oscar, I mean."

The stairwell is empty, but I check again to be sure. "And face complete and utter humiliation? No freaking way."

"I talked to some people, and they said that Diane doesn't like him back. And he knows this. And apparently he's really hung up about it, so why don't you tell him now while he's heartbroken and then maybe he might just reciprocate," she grins. "Genius plan, isn't it?"

"Firstly," I begin, "I don't even _want_ anything to happen between us. Because, awkward. Remember? Kodan? And also, that's taking advantage of what he's feeling now! Why would I want to do that?"

Cara rolls her eyes. "You were pretty hyped when Kodan told you he liked you. Although you said _the exact same thing._ "

"Cara - it's not just that, okay? I mean - "

She pushes open the door of the stairwell. "You have a chance. Grab it, before it's too late," she grins. "Gotta go. See you at lunch?"

She doesn't wait to hear what I say, but rushes off because she's spotted some friends. I try not to feel... Excluded, because I know that it's Cara's style. Coming in, taking over, and sometimes, pushing people out, because Cara can be self-centered, but still the life of the party.

So I make an excuse and move on.

The hallway is crowded when I exit the stairwell, and I shoulder through the crowd to get to the apple tree near the entrance of school. I'm almost there when there's a commotion behind me, and somebody yells my name, "KEY! KELLY!"

I turn, and the crowd of students open up and Kelly - the librarian, that is - and she spots me. Her face is flushed, two spots of pink on her cheeks, and she is panting like she just ran a marathon. Everyone's staring at us, and she looks around, then drags me into the same stairwell. (Which is, frankly, getting pretty annoying.) "This is going to sound strange, but - "

"Stranger than you running all over the school just to find me?" I interrupt, because if Austin wants to talk, it must be pretty urgent, and I need to be there. "Sorry. Go on."

She puts her hands on her knees and tries to catch her breath. "A friend and I... We... We got stuck here. And... And there is something telling us that you are the one who can send us home."

I am officially weirded out. "Okay... And... How do you know it's me?"

She looks up at me, her eyes scared, but hopeful. "You have to believe me," she says forcefully, wringing her hands. "But... I know it will sounds strange..."

"Tell me," I say, and hope springs up in my chest again. Maybe...

"Your name is Key. And there is a prophecy about a Key that can bring us home," she says with a completely serious face.

I stare at her for about two seconds and then burst out laughing. "You're kidding me," I gasp, between laughs. "Okay, Austin, this is not funny, man. Yeah, yeah. Funny. Prank me - "

Kelly grabs me by the shoulders. "I am serious! I know there is no magic here, in your world, but... My friend and I are here. And it's changed from where we came from."

I roll my eyes and try to exit the stairwell, but she holds the door shut. "You _have_ to believe me," she nearly yells, shaking me. "You're the only way we can get home!"

"I don't have to believe _anything_ ," I yell back. "I've tried believing, but it's gotten me _nowhere._ For _years_ I've wanted to believe in worlds, in books, and you and Leo and Percy and - "

She looks as if she's seen a ghost. "H-How did you know I am with Leo?" She starts backing off slowly, letting go of my arm. "I never told you - "

"Look, calm down, I read about you, Calypso - "

She pulls a gun out of her back pocket and points it at me. "If you're one of those things that are chasing us, I _will_ kill you."

The gun is pointing directly at my face, and I have a sick feeling she will not miss. "D-don't kill me, please. Please! I'm not - wait, what is chasing you?" I flick my eyes over the ceiling, and there are no security cameras. Great. I'm trapped in an empty stairwell with some delusional person who believes she's from a fictional universe. Who is appparently being chased by something that can only be kept at bay with a gun.

My whole mind is going: GUNNN GUNNN GUNNN!

But there's a tiny little sane part of me tells me to talk to her calmly. "Look, I have no idea what you're talking about, but there's this book about Leo and all his friends like Percy and you too, and I've read it, okay?"

She keeps the gun pointed at my face. "There is no book. Nobody ever wrote anything about us; you are one of them. Stay away from me."

"Then why aren't you killing me?" My voice is shaking, and I can only see the barrel of the gun, I can only imagine the bullet shooting towards me...

She collapses backwards, onto the staircase, and only just manages to stuff the gun back into her waistband, and starts sobbing. "Please don't kill me..."

I slide down next to her, and put my arm around her shoulders. "It's going to be fine. Just tell me what has been going on. The last I read from the book, you and Leo were flying away from Ogygia. After that?"

"W-we... We came out from... From the Bermuda Triangle, aged, after flying around the sea for what seemed like forever, and Leo's home was gone... And there was no magic. Our magic worked, but..." She gulps and rests her shaking hand on her gun.

"What's coming after you?"

"Monsters. Empousai, Mormo, Erinyes... It has been horrible. They chased us across the country to here, but for some reason, they cannot come near us when we are in this city," she shivers, her eyes darting around. "So we stayed here."

Funnily enough, I am starting to believe her. Things are clicking into place - like the smell of Tobasco sauce she carries around with her, and the funny way she talks, like she hasn't spoken for a very long time. Almost like I'm talking to Siri. "So, good. I'm not one of them; you can see that. But... Why do you need me?"

"The book you have should tell you, correct?" she raises an eyebrow and takes a deep breath. Next to her, I can see that there are shadows around her eyes, and her hair is slightly greasy and messy. It can't have been easy, running all the way from San Francisco, away from those monsters.

"There was nothing in the book about me. All I read about were Percy's adventures, nothing else. I told you, you're not supposed to exist here. You and Leo are figments of someone's imagination."

She pinches me on the arm, with her nails. "YOW!"

"If I can cause you pain, I think I am real," she insists. "And I do not know how we got here - all I do know is that no man finds Ogygia twice - and by breaking that rule, maybe Leo created a portal here," she folds her arms, and glares at me. "I am real. And I can prove it," she digs in her bag and finds a small, black box. "Open it at home."

I tuck the box into my backpack and turn back to her. "This is insane."

She resists the urge to roll her eyes. "If I can take this without question, I'm sure you can too," Calypso checks a pink watch on her wrist. "We should go for lunch."

Something nags at the back of my mind, but I choose to ignore it. "How do you know that I'm part of getting you back home?"

"There is an ancient, secret prophecy - The Hidden Prophecy - that mentions a key at least five times, and it sounds like it is referring to a person. Nobody else I have ever known is called Key, so I'm guessing it is you," she raises her eyebrow. "Lunch? Now?"

I ignore her question. "There's a prophecy? About _me_? That's about as unbelievable as Cory ever getting a girlfriend," I mutter.

"What?"

"Nothing. Sorry. So I'm just supposed to believe that?"

She gives me a withering look. "I was _going_ to tell you the prophecy, but you keep whining about believing me."

"Sorry, Sorry," I snipe, and lean back on the stairs. "Go on."

Calypso brushes her hair away from her face. " _Eight young souls, lost in time,  
Must find the key, and become nine.  
The magic, the changer, betrayer brother,  
The unbeliever, lost hunter, the mother.  
The keeper of the destiny  
Will find the rest, will find the key  
The key will open the eyes of the blind  
Bring the lost home, to find her kind."_

"That's creepy. So you think you and Leo are the magic?"

"Probably. Nobody knows what the prophecy means, even the gods, and they know mostly everything," she tells me. "Back during the first war, we all thought that maybe it might mean that some would come back from the dead. BUt maybe it's more than that - like you said, we're not supposed to exist, in your world. There might be others."

The bell rings, the five minute warning, and I growl. "Great. I'll meet you after school... No. Band practice."

"Leo and I are staying at Hart's Cars and Motors, in the city center. We can meet you there, if you want," she replies, and stands up, tucking the gun deeper into her waistband. "Be careful."

"I'm a simple mortal girl, What would they want with me?" I dare her, still not quite believing that she may be from another universe. Everything in my life has made sense - good, predictable, sense - until now.

Her eyes narrow. "You are the key to us getting home. If you die, we're as good as dead here. The Mist is not as powerful, here, and there have been some close calls with the authorities... Leo was not being careful."

"As usual."

She tries to laugh. "It's mostly for him. I guess. See you," she opens the door and vanishes from sight, into the passing crowd, like a wisp of sunlight. A balloon, floating into the sky, becoming smaller and smaller until it's invisible.

I wonder about what she said while I'm speed-walking to the sandwich vending machine. _It's mostly for him. I guess._

What could she mean?

Maybe it's because she doesn't see anything for herself back in her world - she's the daughter of Atlas, for goodness' sake. Who in their right mind would _not_ be terrified of her after the Giant uprising and the Second Titan War? Leo would be a hero - he practically destroyed Gaia singlehandedly, and everyone thinks he died for it.

I try and eat the sandwich as fast as I can, the bread sticking to the roof of my mouth annoyingly. I hope desperately that Calypso is real, but I can't be sure until I see what's inside the box, or meet her and Leo. Sure, she is all I ever imagined, but what if she just happens to be some insane nutcase from an asylum who's delusional and wants to kill me and bury me in her back garden?

Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme. She didn't seem like the nutcase type.

But then again, she _could_ be. Crazy people don't all look crazy.

(Take me, for example. Wearing plenty of T-shirts from non-existent institutions, crying over imaginary - or not - characters, being part of the fangirl cult phenomenon, etc. Not usually symptoms of a normal person.)

Still. It's not easy to believe in something that I'd _stopped_ myself from believing before. Because it's impossible.

I manage to get to my fifth period Calculus classroom on time, which is quite a miracle. Mr. Ward is sitting at his desk, reading the newspaper and crunching on a green apple, and the classroom is pretty full. The kids at the front are quietly studying, middle kids are talking and milling around, and the ones at the back are flicking bits of paper around and making spinning tops out of erasers and used staples. I spot Cory and head over to him.

A bit of explanation - I managed to finish learning my math textbook a year ahead of the rest of the kids in my year and was teaching myself calculus during class when my previous math teacher came and grabbed the book out of my hands because he thought I was reading. It came a quite a shock to him, seeing as I didn't seem to ever pay attention in class, and that my homework was always full of doodles that annoyed him to high heavens. But he promoted me to AP Calculus, which my parents were fairly pleased about, but Cory not so much. After a week of whining about his little baby sister taking over the world and everything, he finally relented and we even sit next to each other inclass.

And mysteriously, his grades have improved from a B-minus to an A-plus. Whether it's due to the competition or us studying together, I don't know.

Cory shoves me from the side where Calypso pinched me when I slide into the seat. "Where were you during lunch?" His light green eyes sparkle with their usual Cory mischieviousness, and I have a feeling something happened during lunch that amused him.

"Okay. What happened?"

He grins, barely holding the news in. "You won't believe it! Cassie freaking Cordan came up to me and asked me out, but I said no. For the five-letter reason of B-I-M-B-O. And she was so mad that she nearly flipped the table, but managed to get it under control and she was basically standing there with her face getting redder and redder by the second. It was awesome," he giggles maniacally, and brushes his hand through his wiry hair. "You should've been there."

I have a feeling that this has something to do with her trying to get me to matchmake her and Cory, but I don't say anything. It's awkward enough, talking to other people about Cory (because he's my brother), and don't make me start on Cassie Cordan. It's like talking to a vulture, circling over her next boy-prey. "Must've been... Funny?" I comment weakly. "Do you perchance know where Hart's Motors and Cars is?"

"One, nobody uses the word 'perchance' anymore. Two, yes, I do happen to know where it is," he smirks and leans back in his chair, burying his nose in his Calculus textbooks, which for a fact, I know he doesn't even read out of class time.

I rub my hand over my face exasperatedly. "Co-ry. Fine. Where is Hart's Motors and Cars?"

He snickers. "In our town."

"...Which part? Please?" I flick him on the arms repeatedly and he shifts away, almost falling out of his chair.

"City center," he mumbles from behind the book, clearly expecting me to get him to repeat it, but I won't stoop that low. "Why? It's not like you need an extra carburetor."

"Thanks," I say, ignoring his question. I wiggle my phone out of my pocket and check the notifications: texts from Cara, Cory and Austin, all asking where I am; Snapchats from my band friends of Wes's new guitar; a message from the stage manager of the backstage group I'm helping out with for the summer musical.

I filter through them, and switch off my phone. Turn it over. Run my thumb over the Hogwarts log on the cover.

And I pray, so hard, that this is real.


	6. Accio!

**TEDDY**

"Ready or not, here I come!" Albus shrieks, and I hold back a groan. I'm still trying to find a place to hide - the kid counts too quickly for his own good. James and Lily already found all the good hiding spots... So I guess I'll have to hide here. The kitchen. I feel my features warping as I concentrate hard, until I look like Harry. My godfather.

Hah. Let's see Albus trying to find me now!

The chair at the head of the table gives a screech as I pull it out, not unlike that of Albus when I'm tickling him mercilessly. I twiddle my wand between my fingers, much like I've seen my godfather do, and think about nothing in particular.

Well. Mostly Victoire, and last year at the Quidditch Cup, when... Well, when Bill got pretty worked up about us being together. And since then we haven't really talked at all - in fact, I'm quite sure the last time I saw her, she practically scurried away down one of the secret passages, almost as if she was avoiding me.

Maybe it's something to do with the fact that she's in Ravenclaw, and I in Hufflepuff. The long-time rivalry isn't too easy to get over, even after the Battle of Hogwarts.

My wand suddenly slips between my finger and clatters to the floor, rolling under the stove.

" _Accio wand!_ " I say firmly, but nothing happens.

I sigh and drop down onto my knees to find it, groping into the dusty, cobwebby floor. To say the least, it's gross, but Summoning Charms are one of the things that I am not good at - once I summoned the stone table from Hagrid's hut instead of a small pebble in the front of class - to say the least, it was utterly disastrous. I'm better with Patronuses (thanks to Harry) and Transfiguration.

Smooth, curved wood meets my fingers, and I gently roll my wand out through the dust and grime.

Wait - it's not my wand.

The wand is knobbly, with clusters of what looks like berries carved along the wand, like vines grew out of the handle and twisted themselves into the wand. I'm about to crawl on my knees again to find my wand, but all of a sudden there's a scrabbling noise at the door.

"Teddy!" comes James's muffled voice. "The door's locked!" Raucous laughter follows, and then Albus asks in a worried tone, "Will he be alright?"

"I wonder who locked it," I grumble and heave myself up, changing my appearance back to normal. James is forever playing stupid pranks, something I think he inherited from his mother's side of the family. "Let me out, James!"

More laughter, and then the sound fades away. They've obviously run off. I march over to the kitchen door and try the handle, hoping that maybe James carelessly unlocked the door. No such luck.

Brilliant. I'm stuck in the sweltering hot kitchen (Ginny's cooking lamb stew), and Harry and Ginny are upstairs watching _Psycho_ , probably not able to hear me even if I used the _Sonorus_ charm. My only hope is Albus, but then again... Now that I think about it, James definitely had a smirk on his little face when Albus suggested we play Hide-and-Seek. The little sneak probably bullied Albus into setting the game up.

I glance at the wand in my hand, and shrug. Why not I'm not reaching under the disgusting stove again, and my knack for producing unnecessarily powerful Summoning Charm isn't going to help. In fact, it's ptobably a better idea to ask Harry or Ginny to Summon my wand for me when they're done with Psycho.

I point the wand at the door. "Alohomora!"

The door bangs open, a chilling wind whipping my blue hair over my eyes so that at first, I don't see what lies beyond it. I brush my hair out of my face, and see a swirl of green, purple, blue and black water, moving faster than I could ever imagine, hypnotizing me, pulling me...

Before I can scream, I am sucked in, head-first, into a frightening, new world.


	7. Nutella and Tabasco Sauce

**KELLY**

Calculus finishes, and faster than Mr. Ward can say "differentiation," I dash off to band, Cory yelling after me about where I'm going. I call over my shoulder that I've got band, and then speed up, because the faster I get to band, the faster we finish, and the faster I can get to Hart's Motors and Cars, to see if Calypso and Leo are really who she says they are.

If they're staying at a garage, though, I'm pretty sure Leo would be in his element.

I run around the corner and crash heavily into someone, and my books and song sheets go flying. The guy I bumped into bends to pick up the sheet, muttering apologies and swear words under his breath. I run after my water bottle, skittering erratically across the floor, and then return to the boy who knocked me over. "Sorry about that - I was rushing to - "

"Band practice?" he smiles sheepishly, and I recognize him as one of the guys in the school drama club - Nicholas? I think? - One whom I've never really talked to but smile awkwardly at in the hallway if I see. "I was kinda waiting out here for you," he passes the papers and books to me and runs a hand through his hair. "Okay, that came out wrong. What I _mean_ is that my brother Michael's twenty-first birthday is coming up and we're looking for a band to play for his surprise birthday party, two weeks' time, Saturday night? So..."

I shuffle my papers. "You want us to play for him? I'll have to check with the rest, but we should be free. Could you send me the details? You have my number from the drama group, right?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I should," he mutters, and then smiles. "But I'm pretty sure he'll just want you guys to play Maroon 5 the whole time... He has great faith in them being top on Billboard 100 for the next fifty years."

I snort. "Sounds good. See you."

I push open the band door and find Angie sitting on the floor, picking out riffs on her electric guitar. She holds up the Spock hand. "Live long and prosper. What's up?"

"Do you believe in parallel universes?" I blurt out. Angie is a complete physics buff - maybe even more than me and books. Wait - okay. Maybe not. _Definitely_ not.

"Well, the multiverse, yeah. There's a whole lot of speculation and tons of theories about it. Some philosophical, some scientific, and honestly, they're too confusing - no offense - even for me. Even for _most_ scientists. What we know is that since we can't prove that the multiverse doesn't exist, it's pretty probable that it does," she shrugs. "Short explanation: our universe is sort of like a bubble at the end of a straw, and our bubble is 'foaming off' other bubbles with every choice we make, and we've been foamed off of the mass of bubbles too, which are all other universes."

"Would it be possible to... Uh... Travel between them?"

She snorts. "I wish. It'd be a dream come true, or it might rip a hole in reality. So, not necessarily a good thing."

"What's a good thing?" Wesley and Liam come in - the guitarist and bassist respectively - and Wes puts down his guitar as he says this.

Angie rolls her eyes. "Ripping a hole in reality is _not_ a good thing."

"Like we could do that. Any news from the website?" Wesley asks. We have a website ofr our band that Jordan, our singer, set up

I shrug. "Ask Oliver." Just as I am saying this, he walks in. "Oh. Hi Ollie. Any news from the website?"

He plops into a chair. "Nope. Nothing. Anyone else got a request?"

"Oh, yeah," I reply. "Nick - um... Dunno what his last name is, he's in the drama club - he wants us to play for his brother's birthday. Two Saturday nights from today, probably a Maroon 5 list the whole way."

"Is there free food?" Wesley asks immediately, grinning.

I roll my eyes at the classic Wesley response. "You're ridiculous. And we're not going to just be doing this for the food, Wes. We get paid and we enjoy it."

"It's for the food."

Suddenly, I remember Calypso's invitation. "Uh... Guys. Can I... Well. I've got something going on, and I really need to go."

Angie looks annoyed. "What gives?"

"Look - it's important," I manage, fumbling for an apology. "I'm really sorry."

Even Liam looks annoyed, and usually, he's the calmest of all of us. Maroon 5 needs a good beat, and we can't practice without you... But I guess if you need to..."

Even before he's finished speaking, I've stuffed my drumsticks back in my bag and started towards the door. "Thanks, guys. I'm really sorry about that. I'll send you the song list when he sends it to me."

I walk into town - about twenty minutes - and finally arrive at the post office. I duck inside, where a rather elderly lady is sitting behind the counter. She is almost the opposite of what a postmaster would normally look like: wire-rimmed glasses perched on the end of her nose, a tight brown bun, and the kindest eyes I've ever seen. "Hello. How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for Hart's Motors and Cars?"

She puts a letter down in a box. "Of course. Go down the main street, and turn off onto Henley Street. It's the first shop down the road," she has the slightest accent - I can't tell which part of the world it's from, but it's definitely not American.

"Thank you!" I practically run out of the post office, down the main street, and into Henley Street, where there's a small but extremely dirty garage. Two vehicles are parked inside: a beat-up pick-up truck and a greasy-looking car. The inside of the shop is dark and smells of grease, giving me a slight headache. I walk over to the car and peer into the back of the shop. "Calypso?"

Something bashes into my foot and cackles loudly, making me jump nearly a foot. "WHAT THE HELL!?"

The thing laughs louder, and I manage to gather myself enough to look down. The things has curly hair, white teeth, and an elfish grin. There's grease all over it, and it grins maniacally at me. It's a head. "You're Key? Nice! Get us back where we came from, eh?"

Calypso opens a door in the back I didn't notice was there. "Kelly?"

The head emerges further, and it's attached to a neck, then body, then legs. He's skinny, with overalls on, but he's also older than me. Maybe seventeen or eighteen? He stands up from the - well, I don't know what it's called - the thing that rolled him under the car. "You are Kelly, right?"

Leo - Leo Valdez, the craziest, most ridiculous of the seven, the seventh wheel... He's here. Right in front of me, and grinning merrily like nothing will ever bother him. His eyes are brown, his hair black and curly, and is possibly scrawnier than... Well. A beanpole.

I can't believe my eyes.

Leo waves his hand in front of my face. "Uh. I think she's going into shock? Calypso?"

"Oh. My. God," I mutter, and sway on the spot. I can't believe it. I mean - Calypso. Sure. But now _Leo_?

"Call me Leo, dear," he says, obviously very pleased with himself. Calypso shakes her head and walks up to us.

"Kelly? Are you alright?"

I fling my arms around Leo and hug him as hard as possible. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! YOU'RE PERFECT OMG I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!"

"C-can't... Breathe..." Leo chokes out after ten seconds, and I manage to release him. He massages his ribs, Calypso looking on with annoyance.

"Well," I say, not taking my eyes off Leo, "Not in that way. I mean, I've been reading about you so much and it's so awesome to actually meet you in person and I just can't believe it..." I sink to the ground. "Wait. How do I know you're real?"

He shrugs, and then holds out his hand. A tiny flame burns just over his palm, flickering in the dim garage.

I back away. "That's not possible."

"I'm super-hot. Obviously it's possible," he smirks, and then uses the edge of his shirt to wipe his greasy face. "So. Are you going to help us get home, or what?"

This is real - the fire proved it, their perfect appearances proved it... But it's still too much to take in. There are a million questions burning in my mind - how did they get here? Why? And how could the universes - or parallel ones - be connected? How could they exist out of their books?

Did it really matter?

"Kelly. Are you okay?" Calypso asks, and I nod mutely. This is definitely the most exceptionally amazing thing that has ever happened to me.

Which leads to another question: Why me?

But they lead me out the little green door at the back of the garage into the upstairs level. Calypso tells me that she shares a room with Edward Hart's daughter, Missy, and Leo sleeps on the couch in exchange for his engineering services at the garage. Leo pours orange juice for all of us, and I sit down at the table. "Well... Thank you for coming," Calypso says.

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world," I tell her softly. Books are the only way I can escape from reality, and they have slowly become a place for me to hide in. I've wished for forever for them to be real... And this is a dream come true.

Leo sets down the glasses of juice. "Maybe we should be discussing how to get us back instead of fangirling?"

"I can't help but fangirl," I remark, and immediately regret it. Leo grins even more widely.

"Maybe I should tell more people that I'm here, if they're all going to worship me."

I dig around in my bag. "Bad idea. Government might want to study you or something," and find what I'm looking for: the first Heroes of Olympus book (The Lost Hero), which I happened to have in my bag, and which I'd been thinking about on the walk to the town center. "Here." I started passing it to Calypso, but Leo intercepted it and looked, amazed, at the cover.

"Hey! They got Festus all wrong!" Leo starts commenting on the hinges and hydraulic pressure and things like that, then moves on to criticizing the artist's depiction of him, Leo and Piper. "Leo doesn't look that noble. And I'm not that fat! I have, like, actual muscles, and - " he flips the book open. "Holy Hades. Jason. BLACKMAIL!" He starts flipping madly through the book. "Do you have Zhang's chapters? I need them. Ple - "

Calypso snatches the book from him. "Probably not a good idea," she tells me and I agree quickly. The Seven's personal feelings in Leo's hands is a very risky thing indeed. Leo continues to look longingly towards the book, and Calypso hides it under the table. "Well. Maybe we should discuss the prophecy?"

I nod. "Yup. Could you repeat it?"

Calypso tells me the prophecy again, and I quickly write down all the people that are mentioned, plus the people who we know are here.

 _The magic - Leo and Calypso  
The changer -  
The betrayer brother -  
The unbeliever -  
The lost hunter -  
The mother -  
The keeper of the destiny -  
The key - Kelly_

The rest of it doesn't make sense. I mean - I'd have to trawl through fifteen billion fictional characters before I could find all of them. And they're so vague! I mean, anybody could be the mother (except guys, of course, maybe), and who the hell is the keeper of the destiny!?

"Let's start with..." I go over the list. "The betrayer brother. That's pretty specific. Caleb from Divergent? Maybe Edmund from Narnia... Who else?" I scratch down their names on the paper, and then start doodling on the edge of the paper. "Peter Pettigrew... Oh. He's dead. Uh... Is that possible?"

Leo shrugs. "I died. Ish."

"Well, you were revived by Festus. Where is he, anyway?" I ask.

Leo points to a suitcase shoved under the sofa. "There."

I'm impressed. It's smaller than I expected it, and Festus is huge. "Cool. Anyway... I can't really think of anyone else. So. Let's move on to the... The changer."

Leo looked up from his Nutella and Tabasco Sauce (ew) sandwich. "Frank. Or I could be the changer. You wanna see my hot, toned abs?"

"No," I mutter, and Calypso glares at him. "Well. Frank is a possibility..." I write his name down with a question mark after it. "Werewolf, maybe? Hm... I hope Twilight isn't involved in this... Maybe Lupin. Hey! Tonks! But dead." Both their names go down on the paper, with question marks. Nobody form Twilight, though.

Calypso and Leo are looking pretty confused right now. "Who?"

"Sorry. Book characters," I murmur fervently under my breath. "Uh... I can't really think of anyone else..."

Wait. Tonks and Lupin had a son... I can't remember his name, but... Edward? Eddie? Teddy -

And then a body crashes from the ceiling, shattering glass, in a swirl of colors and mist and sparks.


	8. Hurricane

**GALE**

There are a million reasons why I miss District 12.

My family.

The people.

Our house.

My friends.

The woods.

Katniss.

Mostly Katniss.

But I miss the old Katniss - the one that I could be comfortable around, the one, that (yes, selfishly), I had to myself. Now Peeta... Well. She's with Peeta. And they're happy. I couldn't want more than that, but... I always ask myself: what if?

What is she'd never volunteered for the Games?

What if Prim had died?

What if we were left here, the rebellion never started, and our lives had gone on as normal?

Maybe part of it is that I miss the Capitol in a twisted way. Now I have nothing to fight for - fight against, and it's left me empty and wondering what I should be doing with my life. It's left me with no purpose at all.

District 2 helps me to forget that. It gives me a little more purpose, a little more drive to work for the new world, the perfect world, that I always wanted.

It's just not really happening the way I thought it would.

And I learned, very quickly, that perfect worlds do not exist anywhere.

Beetee, like me, is working for the new government. We have uncovered documents and history on how democracies and republics and everything that we need to know about running a country smoothly, about giving rights to people, about being merciful. But it may not be enough - we have been shaped by 75 years of Hunger Games, and this memory is one that will never be able to fade. Not from our children, grandchildren, or even great-grandchildren. Horrific memories will always last.

Katniss and Peeta have changed. They do not want to speak about the Games. They are willing to move on, willing to continue with their lives, but I don't. The Games will remind us forever of what, in our darkest, most desperate moments, we are capable of. What we should never do again.

I am on the phone with Katniss - one of the things that is coming back into use in our recovering empire, something of luxury that I am not quite used to. Something that makes a guilty feeling rise in my stomach every time I see it.

"Look, Gale, come back... Take a break," Katniss pleads with me. I haven't seen them for about two years (for the precise reason that they've been married and I just can't handle seeing that), and I can tell Katniss is different - who wouldn't, after the Hunger Games - but it's more than that. She's happier, now, but sometimes I think she's hiding many things from me.

"There's a project we're working on... Secret," I tell her, even though it's not entirely true. _I'm_ working on a project, sent specially by the government, using tech made by Beetee. A solo project. "It's busy."

My radio crackles, and I pull the phone away from my ear and tell Katniss to hold on. "Commander Hawthorne? Please state your coordinates."

I rattle off a bunch of numbers on the screen in front of me. Beetee's tech is incredible - partly because he's been taking Capitol stuff and messing around with it, making it more user-friendly. Then I go back to the phone. "Listen - I'll try to come back..."

Something weird is on the screen now.

On the screen that transmits from satellites the Capitol had up is a gigantic swirl of red, yellow and blue air. It spirals scarily fast, and I realize that... It's heading towards my boat. My heart starts beating twice as fast, and fear shudders through me. It's a hurricane.

"Gotta go. See you, I hope," I mutter and then slam the phone down. I'm off the coast of District 11, planting defensive weapons and monitoring equipment, just in case there are any hostile cultures who would attack Panem. But I wasn't expecting this - now isnot the season for storms, and neither am I far out to sea. The boat is on auto-pilot, due to Beetee's excellent tech again, and it should avoid the storm, but it seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Like magic.

"Commander Hawthorne to control center! Commander Hawthorne to control center! There's a huge hurricane heading towards me!" I shout into my radio and stumble to the upper deck. In the distance, there is a huge, swirling, white shape, advancing quickly towards my position, and with a feeling of dread, I realize that my boat could never outrun it.

The radio crackles. "Commander... Repeat... Low... Signal..." It crackles again, and then static fills my ears.

I am all alone. A huge hurricane is heading towards me, and I have no way of saving myself.

The winds begin to whip my clothes back and forth, and I stumble to the side of the boat. The water is the strangest color of sea-green, purple, black and blue, all mixed together, lit up as if there is a light shining from the depths of the ocean. The boat pitches from side to side, making me dizzy, and I sit down hard on the deck. I cling to the side of the boat, and picture my family's faces in my mind. How I will never get to say goodbye properly, how... How I never, ever told them I loved them.

Did Katniss feel the same way when she was ripped away to the Games?

Did Peeta?

I pray to whoever's listening that I will survive this. Voices echo through my mind - or are they real? Are people talking through the hurricane, blasting my boat with their breath?

Have I lived through the revolution just to die in a storm at sea?

The boat tips into the storm, and the last thing I see before the water is a beautiful swirl of colors, and a face, lit up from below, like magic.

It is Katniss's face, and I call out to her, just before everything goes black.


	9. The Changer

**KELLY**

A scream cuts through the air, louder than I have ever heard. Then I realize it's mine.

DEAD BODY DEAD BODY DEAD BODY

And then I realize - it's not dead. Which could be possibly more horrifying, because it's screaming too, and colors are blinding me, and there are a million things going on - Leo snatching items out from his tool belt, Calypso backing away to the wall, glass flying everywhere, and a blasting wind whipping my hair all over my face.

"Oh my gods," Calypso mutters, because the body on the table is sitting up, his eyes blinking, bright blue. Bluer than I have ever seen in my entire life.

And, just like that, the blue fades, inexplicably, into a chocolate brown. Magic.

"The changer," I whisper, under my breath, just as Leo leaps forward onto the boy with a box of breath mints and one hand on fire. "GAHHHHH!"

The guy on the table holds out a stick and yells, "Expelliarmus!" And the box of breath mints goes flying out of the window, but the ball of fire stays in Leo's hand. He's about to lob it at the boy crouching on the table, but he waves his wand and a spout of water shoots out from the tip of his wand and douses the flames. Leo looks astonished, and then jumps on top of the boy and tries to hold him down.

"LEO!" I yell, and pull him off the boy, and tackle him onto the floor. My heart is still hammering from shock, but now I know that this kid is from a book. More specifically, Harry Potter. "Stop it! Attacking people with fire isn't going to help, much less trying to throw a breath mint at somebody!" I turn to the boy. "Are you alright?"

He points the wand at my chest. "Where am I? Who are you?!"

I back away from the wand, towards Calypso, and Leo follows me. "You're in Sainsbury, Florida, and my name is Kelly. They're Leo and Calypso, and they're magic. I'm a - I'm a Muggle. In your language," I explain slowly. I'm still not quite sure who this is... "And... Uh... Who are you?"

He narrows his eyes. "Why should I tell you? And isn't Florida in... America? How did I get here? Is this some sort of Dark Magic?" Doesn't lower his wand.

"Yes! America! And it's a long story, so just... I'd prefer it if you didn't kill me before I tell you the story!" I exclaim, and then walk towards him, as if he's a wild animal. "What's your name? I can't... I can't help unless you tell me!"

He must hear the fear in my voice, and lowers the wand, but doesn't put it away properly, his eyes softening. "I'm Edward. But most people call my Teddy."

Recognition strikes me like a train. "Oh, my... Teddy? Like, Harry's godson? Remus and Tonks' son?"

He nods, and raises his wand again. "How'd you know that?" Then he rolls his eyes and tucks his wand into his pocket. "That bloody Rita Skeeter. She selling wizard books to the Muggle population now? She run out of wizards who actually believe her?"

"It's not really Rita Skeeter's book that I read..." I murmur, and watch while he jumps down from the table. He's wearing a baggy bright yellow jumper with a T knitted into the front and baggy brown pants that wrinkle around his black shoes. His hair is bright red, and he seems to have a red scar fading from his forehead. "Is that Harry's scar on your forehead?"

He grins. "I was playing hide-and-seek with Harry's kids, thought pretending to be him was a good... Dumbledore's beard," he gently takes my hand and lifts my arm up. "You're... Bleeding..."

I look down at my forearm. There is a huge piece of glass sticking out of it, blood streaming out on both sides, dripping down my arm and onto the floor. The glass is longer than my little finger, and purple, from the juice cup Leo was drinking from. "Oh my god," my head swims, and I feel dizzy. Ever since I was a kid, the sight of blood makes me sick. I don't know why, but I just can't handle seeing life leak out of somebody - especially if it's myself. "Help... Calypso..."

Teddy grabs my shoulders and steers me to a chair that doesn't have glass on it. "It's okay. I don't know any healing spells - oh, why don't I pay attention when Hermione tries to teach me these things - but just sit down."

Calypso takes one look at my arm and spins into action. "Leo, go downstairs and start the car. I am not going to try and remove this. It looks deep. Kelly, hold your arm up; can you walk?"

I try to get up, but the whole world swirls around me, even more so when I think about the glass and it's pushing into my skin and I can't breathe and there's blood leaking out of me -

Teddy scoops me up and carries me downstairs, Calypso following closely behind, with tissue and a bottle of wound cleanser. He sets me down next to the beat-up pick-up truck and helps me to get in. I squeeze in between the driver's seat, where Leo is, and Teddy, and Calypso moves in closer. "Give me your arm," she commands, and I try not to look at it when I stretch it over Teddy. She takes it, and seems to steel herself. Then she squirts wound cleanser all over my arm.

"GAAHHHHH!" I shriek, and Leo swerves.

"Jeez, woman, calm down!" he exclaims.

It hurts so bad, like a thousand needles are being jammed into my skin, like fire is burning in blood up to my spine. I'm squeezing Teddy's fingers so hard they're turning purple, and Calypso is white. "Oh, help," I say between clenched teeth. "Leo, shut up."

He makes a highly illegal right turn from the left lane. "Not possible."

"Who the hell taught you how to drive!?" I exclaim over the blaze of pain in my arm. It also distracts me from the blood streaming over my arm.

"Maybe you should call your parents," Calypso says hurriedly, maybe to take my mind off Leo's horrific driving.

"Yeah, that's a good idea..." I use my good right arm to take my phone out of my pocket and dial my house phone.

After seven rings, Cory picks up. "Hello?" There are strange background noises - yelling and laughing, familiar theme music, and the occasional explosion in the background.

"It's me. And are you actually playing Mario Kart without me? While talking on the phone"

"Did you just call to be jealous about Mario Kart? And by the way, where are you?" He says. "AUSTIN DON'T YOU DARE USE THAT BANANA PEEL - Oh, for goodness' sake - "

I sigh. "Cory. Is mom there?"

"Out for Katy's dance class."

"Okay, when she comes back, tell her I'm in the hospital. I got a piece of glass in my arm, and it's a pretty - uh... A pretty deep cut," I manage. Without looking at my arm.

I can tell he immediately puts down the game controller. "Damn, Kelly, are you okay? I'll... I'll call Mom for you. How are you getting there?"

"Um, the librarian from school's taking me," I tell him, which is technically not a lie. "I got cut after band and went to her." I hope he doesn't find anything strange about this...

H grunts. "Okay. We'll come as soon as we can. Bye, Key."

"Bye, Cor."

"Oh, my - DON'T NO THAT'S ILLEGAL!" I shriek as he zooms into the hospital parking lot sideways, like he's driving in a video game.

Leo grins and turns the engine off. "Steering a ship? Ring a bell? You should know this stuff!"

He keeps talking to me, and everything passes quickly - sitting in the emergency, a doctor fawning over me and me quickly saying that I accidentally cut myself on a bottle when I tripped and fell, lying on a hospital bed and succumbing to general anesthesia.

Next thing I know, there's a face peering down at me. My mom's. "Oh, Kelly. Are you okay?"

I blink several times to focus my eyes. "Mom? What time is it?"

She leans down to hug me, and when she does, I see Cory and Clare over her shoulder. "Oh, honey. You were out for half an hour for the stitches to be put in."

"Stitches?" I ask, blearily. Then it registers. I look down at my arm, and thankfully I don't have to look at gross, bloody arm with thread in my skin - The place where the cut was is wrapped in gauze and taped together. I push myself upright and wave to Cory and Clare. Cory flips open the chart at the foot of my bed and checks my chart. "Nine stitches. Wow."

I groan. "Thank goodness I don't have to see it. Uh... When can I leave here?"

Mom turns as a doctor comes in. "You can leave now. We just needed to put you under anesthesia because of your haemophobia. Have you taken any treatment for that, by the way? Therapy?"

I shake my head. "Nope. Do I have to?"

He shrugs. "It's best if you do, but it's really your choice. It's not a huge problem for most people."

"Okay," I nod, and then swing my legs over the edge of the bed, find my shoes with my feet. Cory comes over and awkwardly "hugs" me with one arm. Or maybe he's trying to help me up, so I do, and instantly I feel dizzy. "Whoa..."

He supports me and we walk out of the room with the doctor right behind. The first things I see when I get out of the room is Austin is leaning against the opposite wall of the corridor, his arms crossed, looking down at the floor. He glances up when we come out of the hospital room. He crushes me in a hug, which is definitely more enthusiastic than my brother's arm-thingy, whatever it's called. "You okay?"

I smile weakly. "Yup, although it's a little hard to breathe right now..."

He lets go quickly and smiles awkwardly. "Oh. Sorry."

I glance around, and Leo, Calypso, Teddy and Andrew are just getting up from a row of plastic chairs by the wall. "Hey, guys."

"This is the librarian?" Mom asks, gesturing to Calypso - who's got a grease stain on her white shirt. Leo isn't much better - he has grease on his face, which has been made worse by being wiped around by his even dirtier shirt. Teddy, too, looks very out of place, now that I think about it, because of his jumper's interesting color scheme.

Leo grins. "I'm Leo. Kelly's boyfriend."

My mother looks horrified, her mouth falling open, and Cory's face immediately turns red from anger. Leo seems to realize that is words were a little more than foolish. "Oh! I mean - " he turns red as Calypso and I start laughing. "She's called Kelly, too. Uh... Not your daughter. Ma'am." He gestures awkwardly to Calypso, begins to put his arm over her shoulder, and then awkwardly flaps it around a bit before stuffing both hands into his pockets. "Ma'am."

My mom doesn't look reassured, and I silently glare at Leo for him to shut up before he says anything else stupid, like Teddy has a magic wand or that Calypso is at lest three thousand years old. " _Mo-om._ You _know_ I don't have a boyfriend. This is Kelly, the librarian, um, Leon, her boyfriend, and... Uh... Archibald. A student who's transferring in. Kelly was... Talking to him about transferring when I got her to take me to the hospital? And this is my mom, guys. Mrs. Zapata."

I'm not sure if my mom buys it, but she nods. "Thank you for taking care of Key. Would you like to join us for dinner out, as my dear son over here managed to nearly set our lasagna on fire because he got distracted by video games?" She looks at Cory.

"Uh - well... Heh. Sorry, mom. I really forgot... And... Uh... Speaking of video games, we could go to Mario's Kart for dinner?" He tries to avoid her gaze. Mario's Kart is this awesome video game themed Italian Restaurant which is _not_ owned by somebody called Mario. Or Luigi. She's called Doris Henderson.

She purses her lips in exasperation. "Of course, Cory. Do you have a car, Calypso?"

Obviously she asks her, because she seems like the sanest one out of the three. "Yes. Leo can drive us there, if you can give us directions. We are new in town."

"I'll go with them," I pipe up. "Leo has a pick-up truck."

"Okay. Cory, now's a good time to practice your driving with me; we're usually never around at the same time. We'll go pick Katy up from dance, get your dad, and then back to Mario's Kart. Clare, come with us. Austin and Andrew, you can come with us."

I grab my bag from Calypso and we all walk out together - well, my mom walks out in front with Katy. Austin, Andrew and Cory are joking around. Calypso and Leo are talking quietly, so I'm left to walk next to Teddy. Immediately, he gives me an annoyed look. "Really? Archibald was the best you could come up with?"

"Look, my family and friends all read the same books as me, although not necessarily as obssessed as I am. So I had to come up with new names on the fly! Archibald... Comes to mind when I look at your face!"

He looks offended.

"Uh... So. You never really told me how you got here?" I change the subject quickly, because he has a magic wand, and also because he's taller than me.

"I'm not really sure either... James locked me in the kitchen, and I did the 'Alohomora' spell and the portal opened to here, and next thing I knew, I'd fallen on your table."

" _You_ opened a portal by using the Alohomora spell!?" I ask, incredulously.

"Thanks for the confidence in my ability, " he mutters. "Well - it was more of the wand that opened it... But I _do_ have a knack for doing unnecessarily powerful spells. Do you know how that could work? You've read all those books... Maybe you know something I don't."

I shrug helplessly. And then a thought pops into my head - how he phrased his explanation. "The wand? Isn't it your wand?"

"Nope. I did a summoning spell, and then... You know. This was summoned." He pulls out the wand and passes it to me. The wand is strangely tinted, with pinking veins running along the length of the wand, as if it's been stained by... By blood. But that's not the weirdest thing about the wand. It's got clumps of berries carved into the wood, and the strangest hilt with more carvings... A triangular eye...

"Oh, my god," I turn white, and almost drop the wand. "This is the elder wand."

Teddy doesn't react. "What?"

"Your exceptionally powerful Summoning Charm summoned this wand from Dumbledore's office," I say, my voice shaking. "This is... This is one of the most powerful magic items in the history of magic... It's one of the three Deathly Hallows from the Tale of the Three Brothers."

"Wait - so the wand coupled with your exceptionally strong opening spell opened this portal? Maybe you could open another one?" I ask, hopefully.

He shakes his head. "Maybe... But I don't really know how to control it. What if it opens another portal somewhere else? Would you know how to... I don't know. Might you know anything from the books?"

"I'm sorry. I wish I did, but... You're from another universe. You're not supposed to exist. Leo or Calypso either."

He turns whiter than bleached flour. "I'm in another universe?"

"Oops," Great. Maybe I shouldn't have said it so bluntly. "Uh... There's a prophecy, and I'm supposed to get you guys back to where you came from?"

"Harry's going to murder me," he mutters, and stops walking. "Grandma's going to murder me... Oh, no..." He covers his eyes with his hands. "I can't be in another universe... Why don't I exist?"

"Well," I start. "This is going to sound strange, but... You're... Part of a book series. Well, Harry is, anyway, and you're born in the last book, and the whole series is basically about him, and how he defeated Voldemort," I try to explain. "And that sounds completely confusing, doesn't it."

He doesn't react. "How do I get back?"

"Look, we should keep walking, number one," I take him by the shoulders and steer him towards the parking lot, "And I promise you, I'll get you home. We just... We just need to get you settled. So..." I gulp, because I know I am actually hoping for this, "Just in case you stay here. For longer than expected."

Teddy straightens. "I'm sorry - it's just... Who wrote these books? And can I see them?" He seems to regain his composure, but his hair goes through several rapid, nervous-looking color changes.

"Uh... You should try to keep your hair the same color. Magic doesn't exactly... Exist here."

He screws up his face in concentration and his hair turns back to light brown. "Then... But Leo had fire in his hand? That's surely... Oh. He's from a book too?"

He's taking it surprisingly well. "Yeah. A book about Greek gods and their mortal children. Apparently there's a prophecy from their world that's about us."

"Like... Harry's prophecy?"

"Yeah. Sort of."

"Well... Who wrote all of it? And did he create us, or did he just... Travel between worlds?"

" _She_ is one of the most celebrated authors of our time. And I really don't know. Maybe she created you, or maybe you just happened to exist in a parallel universe at the same time... I'm really not sure," I tell him as we walk out into the parking lot. "Well... Just don't do anything strange or magicky in front of anyone except Leo and Calypso and me."

He agrees, and we join Leo and Calypso next to his car. Now that I'm not panicking about huge amounts of blood coming out of a deep cut in my arm, I can see that there's graffitti all over the side of the truck. "Bat Mobile" is emblazoned on the side of the truck in block letters, and an interpretation of the Batman logo is also drawn on the side. "You're kidding me."

Leo shrugs. "I understood Batman. It must be a huge influence in both our universes, then."

Or authors and writers may just be able to travel between worlds.

But I don't say that.

We all get into the car, this time Calypso sitting between Leo and me, and Teddy sitting on my right. "So. Is that your boyfriend?" Leo immediately asked.

I don't reply at first, but then realize that the question was directed at meat the same time that Calypso smacks Leo on the shoulder. "That was my _brother,_ " I say, horrified. "That's absolutely _disgusting._ "

Leo grins. "Not that one. The one who hugged you when you came out of the hospital room."

"He's practically my brother! I've known him since I was a baby! He's my best friend!" I exclaim, and Calypso rolls her eyes.

"He can be both. Did you see the way he - " Calypso glares at him, and he shuts up. "Sorry. Heh. Do you like him?"

I snort. "Of _course_ I like him, or I wouldn't have stayed friends with him for my WHOLE LIFE! Now get off my back, Leo, before I start shipping you and Piper. Turn right here."

He fake-vomits. "Ew. That's - okay. I get your point."

We manage to get to Mario's Kart without getting lost, being pulled over for Leo's incredibly illegal driving, or getting smashed by another car. All of us, except Leo, are pretty green. Leo just looks really excited.

We go into the restaurant and find a table - my mom, Clare, Cory, Austin and Andrew aren't here yet. Teddy looks in wonder around him as we enter Mario's Kart - it's full of video game memorabilia: dozens of figurines line shelves along the wall, a circle of computers blink brightly in the middle of the room, waiters zoom around on rollerblades, the guys dressed as Mario and Luigi and the girls dressed as Princess Peaches. Some tables look like they're taken out of a Minecraft game, and Call of Duty merch is mounted on the wall. "Whoa... What is this stuff?" A waiter zooms bye and salutes, his fake Mario mustache hanging from his upper lip.

"It's video games. Sort of like... Your enchanted paintings. You play them on those things, which are like interactive televisions," I point to the computer.

He grins. "Harry has one of those at home! He watches Sherlock on it with Ron, I think."

I laugh. "Sherlock must be a big influence everywhere, then. C'mon," we sit down at a twelve-seater table and check out the menus. Just as we call the waiter over to order for everyone, my family, Austin and Andrew walk in. "Hi, mom. Hi, dad."

My dad hugs me and then sits down at the other end of the table. I'm sitting opposite Calypso, next to Teddy, and everyone else fills in the seats around me. Cory slides in to the seat next to me, and Austin sits opposite him. "So. Guess who's outside," Cory smirks and then waggles his eyebrows.

"I have no idea..." Although I can see very quickly where this is going, due to the fact that Cory is making suggestive motions and the waggling of eyebrows.

"OS - " he yells at the top of his voice before I pinch him on the arm, using my nails, and it changes into a high-pitched exhalation of agony.

Leo immediately catches on. "You like this guy? I can wingman! I'm, like, the best wingman ever. I mean, I'm so smooth, he'll probably fall in love with me instead," he has a sickly sweet smile on his face, and

Austin rolls his eyes, and then waves to someone behind me. "Hi, Oscar."

I make a face at him before turning around, and then try to smile as best as I can without looking like I'm grimacing. "Hi, Oscar." He's standing right behind me, a crooked smile written across his face. A few kids I recognize from the school dance team are sitting down at a booth a few steps behind him.

"So, what are you and your fair family doing here?" He grins.

"Uh. Dinner," I reply, and immediately want to bash my head against the table, because what else would we be here for? Breakfast with Queen Elizabeth?

Okay - that's not exactly far from the truth, since we're having dinner with three fictional characters from two of the most popular book series right now, and I'm not even bothered by it.

"Wow. I'm here for the same reason! Who knew?" He smiles. "Your arm okay?"

I involuntarily look down at my left arm, encased in gauze. "Yeah. Just cut it."

He shrugs. "Get better soon. See you tomorrow, Zap," and walks back to his table.

I lean back in my chair and exhale. At least I didn't make _that_ much of a fool of myself. "Oh-hoooo," Cory grins and starts preening and fluttering his eyelashes. "Oscar and Kelly, sitting in a tree - "

I cough exaggeratedly. "Mom. And. Dad. Are. FIVE. FEET. AWAY!"

He rolls his eyes. "Calm down, Key."

"But she can't," Leo teases. "Her love is sitting right behind her."

"Leon, shut up," Calypso says, and then folds her arms. "Would you like me to tell everyone about the time when you - "

His eyes grow wide. "I'm fine. Nope. Thanks, Cal - Kelly. I'm good."

Austin looks amused. "So, Archibald. You're from the UK?"

I poke Teddy to remind him that his new name is Archibald. "Call me..." He glares at me. "Call me Archie. But yeah, I am from the UK."

Austin looks impressed. "Jolly good?"

"Pip, pip, cheerio," Leo says.

I roll my eyes. _Boys._ Even ones from different universes think alike.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and rest it on the table, and only then do I realize that it's in the phone case that Austin gave to me for my birthday. It's a Hogwarts phone case, and I rub my thumb over the logo, gently.

Dinner passes uneventfully - well, unless you count Cory and Leo teasing me mercilessly about Oscar and Leo making really, _really_ bad jokes about that. Dinner is finished, my parents thank Calypso for taking care of me, and we head out separate ways. All of us jam into the minivan, and I end up in the last row of seats with Austin.

"So. Librarian, her boyfriend, and the transfer student?" He asks immediately. "Why didn't you go to the nurses' office instead?"

"Well. I fell near the library. And she cam across me on the way to the nurse's and took me with her and her boyfriend. And Te - Archibald. He was just concerned."

Austin rolls his eyes. "You know I know you're lying."

"How do you know that I know that you know I'm lying?" I counter, and then grin, because he's shakes his head.

"Look, I know when people are lying, especially you. I've grown up with you, for goodness' sake," he mutters. "But, fine. Tell me when you're ready to tell me. Just... Don't do anything stupid."

"I'm offended. Since when did I ever do anything stupid?" I say.

He thinks. And then sighs. "Well. Just... You're the most rational. But if they, you know, ask you to do drugs or something, don't. Okay?"

I laugh. "Leon's like, the last person who would _ever_ do drugs. And do you really think that Kelly would?"

He doesn't look convinced, but just shrugs. "Fine. I don't exactly believe you, but fine."

We get out of the car and say goodnight to Austin and Andrew, then trundle back into the house. Now that I'm not actually with Teddy, Leo or Calypso, I can't really believe that it really is happening. Even though I have Leo's number saved on my phone (LEO FREAKING VALDEZ ASKED FOR MY NUMBER!).

Memory is like that - I don't know how many times I've ever thought about it. How things always seem so _now_ until you're in another time and it's only a memory, and you have no proof that it ever happened except that vague image in your mind. Tiny souvenirs from the time you then spend wishing you were still there.

Tiny souvenirs.

I have one.

In my bag, the small box is resting underneath my pencil case, and I take it out gently, reverently, and take it up to my room like it is a relic, and place it on my window, in the direct path of the moonlight. Then I open it.

There is a shriveled, small plant sitting withered in the box, but it doesn't stay like that. No. In the moonlight, the flower unfurls like a tiny dancer, opening its silvery petals to the moonlight like a dancer twirling in the moonlight, glittering like fairy dust has been sprinkled over its leaves. A gentle scent seems to float into the air, and everything seems brighter.

My little piece of magic in this world.

And even if they are gone tomorrow, even if Teddy disappears in a flurry of magic, even if Leo and Calypso return by the Bermuda Triangle, I will still have this beautiful piece of magic left in my life. And I will never stop looking for the people who gave it to me.

But... When the time comes, and all eight arrive, will I be able to let them go?


	10. Back

**CALYPSO**

Why do I feel like... Like Leo and I are drifting apart?

Every second here is a second closer to us getting back to our world, and I know I should be happy for Leo and that I can finally go back home after a few millennium, but I cannot picture myself at the - the camp that he so loves. I cannot picture myself "hanging out" with Jason and Piper, or joking around with Percy, or shooting arrows at targets. I cannot imagine what it is going to feel like when every demigod that I will meet will be scared of me. Jason and Percy are respected for being sons of the Big Three. Annabeth is asked for advice, because she is the daughter of Athena. Our parents carry a huge effect on who you are, in our world, and my father was regarded as a monster.

But he is my father.

In a book I read, someone once said that history is always written by the winners. The gods won the war. They wrote the history. I can't deny that my father may have done horrible things, but how about the gods? Did they not chain Prometheus to a rock to eternal torture, even though he gifted the humans with fire? Did they not shun the Titans' children, throw them into Tartarus... And me. They left me on an island away from time for all eternity, cursing me to have my heart broken every thousand years?

Leo doesn't have a fate like mine. I will always be Atlas's daughter. I will always have fought in the war on his side. I will always be the one who trapped Odysseus on my island - even though I did not trap him. He landed, just like Leo and Percy and all the others, and I fell in love with him. He was the first one out of a long line of heroes who dropped out of the sky. And that first time, I truly believed that I could start again, that on that island, he would love me too. Without knowing who my father was.

But of course, he could never stay. None of them ever could - but Leo finally came, and when he did, I was too overcome by gratitude and longing to finally _be_ with somebody to really think about it.

Ogygia was heaven, for anyone who ever visited, and for a reason. You could escape from any burden that you had, you could finally get away from the demons you had. But the heroes I met always had another purpose, friends, family, a life to get back to. But for me, I have none of these. No purpose, outside of Ogygia. No friends, except for Leo. Yes, I have a family, but one that will alienate me from the rest of the world. My life ended thousands of years ago, when I was banished to my prison forever.

Is it wrong to wish that I could be back there?

Everything in Kelly's world is so... Different. Fast, blinding, easy... Ogygia was very, very slow. Time passed differently.

Do I really, really want to go back?

 **CASTING  
Leo Valdez: Nat Wolff  
Calypso: Shailene Woodley  
Hazel Grace Lancaster: Hailee Steinfeld  
Edward Remus "Teddy" Lupin: Andrew Garfield  
Gale Hawthorne: Liam Hemsworth**


	11. Into the Trees

**KELLY**

I sneak down to the kitchen when I hear my mom and dad finally going to sleep, and stuff a packet of bread, some peanut butter, a can of soup, and a bag of chips into the duffel bag I've brought with me. Then I go back upstairs and put one of my pillows in, a comforter, a flashlight, one of a pair of black walkie-talkies with and then stuff everything into my wardrobe along with my sleeping bag. I hesitate, and then throw on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on top of the pile, then close my closet door. We all agreed at Teddy had to stay in a proper place - not with the Hart's, because there was no space, and definitely not with me. Sneaking Teddy into my house just isn't a very good idea - we had to find a place temporarily until the "transfer" student could register, officially, with one of the students' houses. Our house.

So he's staying in the woods.

I wait in my room, reading under the covers, so that my mom and dad are properly asleep before I leave the house. At eleven-thirty exactly, I get out of bed, check to see whether anyone's awake, and then grab the sleeping bag, book and duffel bag and slip quietly out of the back door, which Mom always leaves unlocked. Dinky (our cat, and no, I did not name her) rubs up against my leg when I slip out of the house, and I pat her before padding softly through the garden and out the back gate. A tiny flame burns somewhere to my left, where there is a small path leading up from the main road to the forest behind our house. I walk towards the light, which bobs in the darkness, and Leo slowly appears out of the dark, with Teddy next to him. His finger has been lit up with flames, and in the dark, we all look like ghosts. "Let's go," I motion for them to follow me.

"Here, let me help," Teddy says, and takes the duffel from me, leaving me with the sleeping bag. We walk silently through the woods, walking by the light of Leo's fire and my flashlight, once we're far enough away from the house.

I swing the flashlight beam in long arcs in front of me, trying to find the specific tree that I've been hiding out in since I was eight. Cory, Austin and I built the treehouse, taking three years, and Cara joining us when she moved here.

Finally we reach it, and I run my hand over the bark of the tree. Cory, Austin and Cara never really come here anymore - I guess they just grew out of it. But I never did. "Well. Here we are," I tell Leo and Teddy.

Leo looks amused. "Isn't there a ladder or something?"

"Yeah," I walk around the tree to find the knob in the trunk that's the beginning of the place where we always sed to climb up.

He coughs. "And where exactly is it?"

"One of us usually climbed up the tree, but since my arm's screwed up, I don't think I can do it," I stretch my arm out twice and wince. It's really sore, and I can feel the stitches stretching against my skin. "Maybe I didn't htink this through well enough..."

Teddy sets down the duffle bag, and I point him towards the easiest place to start climbing up the tree.

He's surprisingly agile, even though he has such a lanky frame, and quickly scales the tree. After about five minutes, he gets to the top and drops the rope ladder down to us with a thunk. After a bit of struggle because of my arm, I manage to get to the tree house and lie there, panting, until Leo climbs up too.

It's just a platform in the trees with a shoddy roof, and used blankets to make "walls". But there are a million memories that I've made here - pretending to be pirates, falling asleep staring at the trees, talking to Cory and Austin and Cara, learning the names of hundreds of birds... I can't describe how much the treehouse mean to me, as a child. And still, now. Now that I think about it... It's not the treehouse I loved. It was the making memories. It was the leaving the world behind. It was the imagining.

And then, I have two imagined people standing right in my treehouse.

Nobody comes here anymore - well, other than me. Cory, Cara and Austin have grown out of it, I guess, but it's something I can't leave behind.

"Okay, so this is where you'll be staying," I tell Teddy, and he sets down the duffel bag and everything else on the floor. "From here," we walk over to the opening where we climbed in and I hand him the flashlight. "You can signal me from here. Three blinks and I'll come, if I see it. Or walkie-talkie me." I explain how to use the walkie-talkie, and everything else, and then Leo and I leave.

Just as we're a few feet away from my back gate, I pause and blurt out a question. I'm not sure whether it's because I'm tired, but I say this, "Leo... How do you... How do you put up with always being left out?"

He knows what I'm talking about.

"Y'know. Jokes help. They make me feel useful. But most of the time... I guess I'm like my dad," he shrugs. "Better with machines than people. And Calypso comes along... And I guess it's easier. And I tell myself that one day, things will be better. Though I'm not sure when."

I think about this. "Thanks, Leo."

He pats my shoulder. "No problem. I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nod, and he lopes off, back to his pick-up truck.

The sky is beautiful, at night. The light pollution from the city makes a fog seem to hover over me, but here and there, I can still see the stars. And I wonder, if somewhere out there, billions of light-years away, are a reflection of our universe. The place where my friends came from, where I wish I could be. I wonder if our answers are out there.

But the answers may hold the way back home. And do I want to let them go?

I am about to open my back gate when I see it.

A pair of eyes, angry and hurt, staring at me, to my left.

I'm too tired to be scared, but I can recognise those eyes.

Austin.

And I think he's seen everything.

 **CASTING  
Leo Valdez: Nat Wolff  
Calypso: Shailene Woodley  
Hazel Grace Lancaster: Hailee Steinfeld  
Edward Remus "Teddy" Lupin: Andrew Garfield  
Gale Hawthorne: Liam Hemsworth**

 **A/N  
I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING!  
Started school and stuff whew so not much time to write but I WILL DO IT :D  
Have fun with this chapterrrr 3**


	12. Philip Sucks Sometimes

**HAZEL**

I read.

Skipping the parts where I see my name, the chapters I know I will regret reading. I read about Kelly, Leo, Teddy, Austin, Cory, and so many others - and it starts to make sense. Different characters from fictional books come to life in Kelly's world, and I can feel hope fluttering in my chest.

Because if I'm in that book, Gus might be too. Or Anna, from _An Imperial Affliction._

It's so tempting, being able to read your future. All I ever wanted to know was that. If everything would be okay.

But I might change something. And then everything would be messed up.

It knows, somehow. And I want to find out how.

The boy on the cover - I now know he's Austin. And I also know secrets about him - in fact, I know secrets about everyone. About how Calypso is scared. How Leo doesn't want to be a joker anymore. How Kelly is losing touch with her friends. How they feel like outcasts. Not of their worlds.

It's power.

If I ever met these people, how would I keep this all inside? Austin's secret, Kelly's imagination, Leo's past... There's so much power in these words. In one book. All the futures of these people… I've read it. I know what will happen – up until the part where I appear in Kelly's life.

After that, I don't dare to read anymore.

Mom comes in when I'm reading the book, skipping the dangerous parts, for the fifth time. "You've found a new book?"

"Yeah," I tell her, and adjust my breathing tube.

She coughs. "It's time to go see your doctor."

I cough, slightly louder. "Don't call him a doctor if he's a psychiatrist."

"Hazel, I don't want to have this argument with you every week."

I set the book down. "Look, Mom, I don't need to see a psychiatrist. I'm perfectly fine."

She taps the door. "Not if you're reading the book for the fifth time. The same thing happened with _An Imperial Affliction_ , and… Well. You could start – "

"Not support group. Anything but that."

She knows not to push it.

"Fine. But we set up the appointment, and I don't want to back out on it."

I know I'll eventually end up going, but I continue to argue. Even in the car, as I'm holding the leather book (which is, decidedly, not as good as _An Imperial Affliction_ ), I'm arguing with her. But I still go.

And I'm thinking about the book the whole time.

…

Isaac seems to have forgotten the book when we play video games in his basement today. Well, when I play video games and shout out what he has to do to him.

After we've spent a very tiring half an hour, we lean back and sit in silence for a while. Then Isaac asks, "Are you ever afraid of what may happen? You know. After."

I pretend to think about it, although I've already thought my answer through so many times because when you have cancer, it's something you inevitably think about. Death. "Yeah. I guess we're all scared of the unknown, right?"

"I hope Gus is okay, wherever he is," Isaac murmurs.

"As long as it's not oblivion… Well, he wouldn't know if he was obliviated," I say.

Isaac smiles sadly, and turns his head toward me. "He'll never be, you know that? He left his mark here. On you, on me. He's only gone if his story is gone."

This makes me glance at my bag – where the book is. Lately, I have been wondering if all I am is just words. Am I really real? Because… I may just be words on paper. Maybe I'm not real. How would I ever know, unless I experience a different reality? Maybe a writer is just controlling every move I make, inside and outside of the book, and I'd never know.

It's scary, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Key may be just a character, too, and I'm the real one, or maybe she's real, and I'm fake.

If someone can read about me, if someone knows what I'm going to do before I do it, how is it free choice? How is it being human?

…

When I am back home, lying in my bed, I stare at the ceiling and think.

I know I appear pretty far into the book – but I don't know how, because I didn't read part anything I haven't experienced. I get home, and I find that Isaac and my video gaming experience was written into the book. So I read through that – and it's creepy, seeing my thoughts down on paper. But it helps me to think more.

Key, can you read this?

Can anybody else read this?

I Google the Bermuda Triangle – things come up like Amelia Earhart's disappearance, wild portal theories, alien theories, all sorts of things that would make sense in an imaginary world full of magic – Leo and Teddy's worlds, whoever they are – but not here. As Kelly might say, she lives in a world that has physics and math and objective facts – no magic, no inexplicable signs, nothing. I live in a world like that too.

I almost do not believe it.

Except for the fact that I am in the book too.

I Google with keywords like Leo and Calypso, and I find something on Calypso, but not Leo. She's a mythical creature, a daughter of the Greek Titan Atlas, who was punished to hold up the sky for all eternity. Leo doesn't help, neither does Percy Jackson. I Google Teddy, Harry Potter, anything that could be connected to Key, but nothing comes up. Nothing. It's like my world's like Kelly's, but with different books, different people, different fiction. But how?

How is it possible that we have the same but different worlds? Amelia Earhart – she disappeared in Key's world too, from research Key does in one of the later chapters. How can historical figures be the same, but not fictional worlds?

Maybe it's better not to wonder about these things, and to just work on getting to Key's world.

I have no magic to help me, not like Teddy or Leo. No trip to the Bermuda for me, no secret organization to send me somewhere I could get lost. We have no money, no wish from a foundation to send me on another far-fetched trip, and my parents would be devastated if I drowned at sea or went missing. I am as normal – if not more normal – than Key, and there is definitely no magic in my world. Without help from someone else, I'd never get in.

Teddy's summoning spells?

But there was nothing about that in the part before I appeared. I saw my name on the page, and I just stopped reading. Only barely.

I don't want to go, because I know they will miss me, but I know I will have to.

It's in the book.

I put the book down, close it, because I am scared. More scared than I was in the beginning. Because maybe, I will have to read the book in order to find out how to get to Kelly's world. Maybe I'll be able to see the future.

But there is this nagging doubt – the future of others is okay to read, while I am not sure if I can get there in the first place. But when it is my future, and everything can spiral out of control for myself… I don't think I want to know.

I feel dizzy.

I realize I am sucking air.

Somehow – there's something wrong with Philip. I can't breathe, I start hyperventilating, scream _Mom_ over and over and over and over –

And all I see is a swirl of colours, and then I am gone.

 **CASTING  
Leo Valdez: Nat Wolff  
Calypso: Shailene Woodley  
Hazel Grace Lancaster: Hailee Steinfeld  
Edward Remus "Teddy" Lupin: Andrew Garfield  
Gale Hawthorne: Liam Hemsworth**

 **Author's note:  
Hey everyone! Thank you all for waiting so patiently for the updates and for reviewing and reading! I haven't been very regular in updating (understatement of the century) and while I've been on holiday I have managed to write a ton more. Also I've been reading through reviews and I'm going to answer QUESTIONSSSS YAYYY  
*Ahem*  
without giving away the final plot or saying too much but enough that will annoy you guys (ahaha, sorry).**

 **Q:** **Will she HAVE to let them go fully? (ThePointer)  
A: Only time will tell ;)**

 **Q: At the end of the prophecy didn't it mention something about finding out who she truly is or something? (ThePointer)  
A: "** _ **Bring the lost home, to find her kind,"**_ **is the exact line. Who knows what this means? :3 Except I'll have you know that the prophecy doesn't actually end here HAHA**

 **Q: So now does Hazel know the whole story already? (GetDaFacts4.0)  
A: Pretty much answered that in this chapter, but she knows the story until the part where she appears.**

 **Thank you thank you thank you for your wonderful reviews, for reading the story, and for your feedback. This really motivates me to write faster (as you can see I have moved from not updating in months to updating within a week hahaha).**

 **As a note on this chapter, repeating Hazel's character doesn't close off the rest of the people coming into the story. There are still many more surprises on the way**


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